Editorial: False Alarm

IT’S not funny.

Whoever spread the rumors that lahar will be flowing from Bacolor then to Guagua down to the City of San Fernando is not in his or her right frame of mind. Who would invent such a scenario? Only people who are out of his or her senses, that’s who.

We are at a calamity as it is. We don’t need any more problems at this point in our lives. If they meant it as a joke, then it’s a bad one. A real bad one.

That particular rumor – which has spread mid-morning yesterday, has sent a lot of people in panic. Very vulnerable during this time of calamity, they believed the “news”.

Who can blame them? People are at a loss, and they are in the period of re-adjusting their lives after being inundated in floodwaters for several days. Of course, they’ll tend to believe whatever crap is thrown their way.

People have called the Sun.Star Pampanga office, asking if the “news” was true. One of the callers, a teenage girl, stuttered because of panic. She wanted to know if there will be lahar coming to the city. False alarm, we told her.

City officials were quick to dispel the rumors. City Administrator Ferdinand Caylao said the rumor was the handiwork of some who wanted to sow panic for “petty interests.”

We agree.