Friday, October 19, 2007 Should ‘Waway’ stories scare you?: No way, cops say
THE Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) yesterday officially denied reports of a serial rapist/killer roaming in Cebu’s northern towns, a story that sowed fear in both children and adults alike.
CPPO Director Carmelo Valmoria said the stories are just “making mountains out of molehills” and that the reports about Warlito “Waway” Toledo were exaggerated.
Toledo has a pending warrant of arrest for a rape case. He was also reportedly tagged for a murder case but no evidence was gathered against him.
Reports first circulated in Danao City that Toledo would enter houses and pick his targets.
The rumors were fueled after a local daily (not Sun.Star Cebu) published a report about Toledo being a “serial killer.” Similar reports were also picked up by local AM stations.
Apprehensions about Toledo spread as far as Sogod and Lapu-Lapu City. The rumor circulated in Danao City through habal-habal drivers and reached neighboring towns such as Sogod and Catmon.
Toledo allegedly enters houses, rapes women, slashes their breasts and picks his next target by spitting on their slippers.
The reports have caused alarm throughout the northern parts of Cebu, and people have begun to keep their slippers inside their houses for fear that Toledo would spit on them and target them.
Another version of the rumor stated that Toledo was targeting 400 victims.
“He is not that dangerous. But we assume he is armed. That is why we are requesting anyone who sees him to please inform the police immediately and not try to arrest him,” Valmoria said.
Talks about Toledo have evolved into a myth of sorts in several northern towns, where some residents believe him to possess powers because the Danao City police has failed to arrest him.
The Danao City Police Station released posters of Toledo because there were many reports of Toledo’s presence in different places, but these always turned out to involve the wrong person.
But this was interpreted by some as something else, thinking that Toledo was invincible and always eludes arrest because of an “anting-anting” or amulet.
Valmoria, however, said Toledo’s one pending rape case does not make him a serial killer. The case was in 2003 yet.
There are also no recent reports of other rape incidents or killings.
Chief Insp. Elmer Lim, chief of the Operations Branch of the CPPO, was surprised when his wife asked him about Toledo because his office did not receive reports of such incidents. It is the Operations Branch that receives all reports from all police stations in the Province.
Schoolchildren have also picked up on the report.
The fourth-grade son of Cebu City Police Office Director Patrocinio Comendador asked him about it.
When Comendador assured him that the police will arrest Toledo, his son doubted him and insisted that Toledo could turn into a snake.
Because of the alarm the reports have caused, Valmoria directed Danao City Police Chief Larson Dechino to arrest Toledo “as soon as possible, perhaps within the month.”
He also informed the neighboring police stations and told them to coordinate with the 78th Infantry Battalion, which has detachments and civilian volunteers in interior barangays.
Valmoria said there is a P10,000 reward for Toledo’s capture, provided by Danao City Mayor Ramon “Nito” Durano III. (MEA)
