A MALACAÑANG official on Monday warned the public against circulating hoax text messages regarding the possible effects of reported nuclear meltdown in Japan.
“These messages are not helpful. There is no room for this kind of actuation in a situation which is already sensitive,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a press briefing in Malacañang.
She said the government is currently tracing where the text messages are coming from.
“The government is exerting efforts really to put information out there on what is the real situation and these hoax text messages are really not helpful to our countrymen,” she added.
Text messages are circulating since early Monday morning warning people in Asian countries including the Philippines to take necessary precautions against possible effects of radiation from the reported meltdown of reactors at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.
“BBC News: Japan government confirms radiation leak at Fukushima nuclear plant. Asian countries should take precautionary measures. Remain indoors first 24 hours. Close doors and windows.
Swab neck skin with betadine where thyroid area is, bc radiation hits thyroid first. Radiation may hit the Philippines starting 4pm today [March 14],” the text message read.
Presidential Strategic Planning Secretary Ricky Carandang said "there is no truth" to the BCC text message.
"There’s no need to panic and I’m aware that there are text messages going around that are very alarmist that purport to come from credible news organizations like BBC—there’s no truth to that," he said.
"There are some concerns that some radioactive material was released. They release some radioactive material to prevent a larger problem from occurring. We are following the wind patterns over the weekend and the wind patterns seem to be moving toward the east—towards the Pacific Ocean—not south, towards us. So there’s no truth to those text messages," he added.
He also assured that the reported nuclear explosion in Japan has no immediate threat to the country.
Classes in Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) were disrupted due to circulated text messages on radiation.
An official from PUP said their President Dante Guevarra decided to suspend classes because “they were swarmed with calls from the students’ parents worried about the safety of their children after hearing about the text message." (Jill Beltran/Sunnex)