THE Philippine National Police (PNP) has warned against sharing and spreading unverified information that causes fear to the public.
In a press conference on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, PNP chief of the Public Information Office (PIO) Colonel Jean Fajardo said on Monday, December 4, that the police received a total of seven reports about bomb threats, in which six were in government offices in Manila, such as the Department of Budget Management, National Economic and Development Authority, Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the National Museum, while the other is at Pangil Elementary School in Laguna.
Fajardo said they do not take such reports for granted.
“So lahat yan ay nirespondehan ng PNP at in turned out na negative naman lahat after considerable time na nakapag panel daw sila (Explosives Ordnance Division) ay wala silang nakitang bomba,” she said.
(So all of that was answered by the PNP and it turned out that everything was negative after a considerable time when they (Explosives Ordnance Division) did a panel and they didn't find any bombs.)
Fajardo said the PNP-Anti-Cybercrime Group is currently in coordination with its counterparts in Japan following the spread of a message sent by a certain Takahiro Karawasa, who claimed to be a Japanese lawyer.
The message was sent through e-mail, with Karawasa saying that he planted “high-performance” bombs in major public buildings in Metro Manila and the bombs will explode on the afternoon of December 5.
Fajardo said a similar message from the same person also spread sometime from September to October not only in the Philippines but also in Taiwan, China, and South Korea.
“Siguro because of what happened sa Marawi ay gustong sakyan itong mga pangyayari na ito, so mag ingat tayo sa pag share ng mga unverified information at huwag tayong magpakalat ng mga ganitong mga klaseng mga bomb threat,” said Fajardo.
(Maybe because of what happened in Marawi, they want to take advantage of these events, so let's be careful about sharing unverified information and let's not spread these kinds of bomb threats.)
“On the part of the PNP, lahat yan ng mga report na yan ay hindi natin ginagawang biro, whether it is true or not and ‘yung ating protocol in managing and controlling mga reports relating to bomb threats ay inaaksyunan agad ng PNP yan para hindi tayo mag create ng panic at chaos particularly sa ating mga government offices at sa ating mga eskuwelahan kaya mag ingat tayo sa pagshare ng mga unverified information via social media or even through email,” she added.
(On the part of the PNP, we do not make all those reports a joke, whether it is true or not, and our protocol in managing and controlling reports relating to bomb threats is immediately acted upon by the PNP so that we do not create panic and chaos particularly in our government offices and in our schools, so let's be careful about sharing unverified information via social media or even through email.)
Sharing unverified information, Fajardo said, is punishable by five years of imprisonment with fine.
On Sunday, December 4, four people were killed, while several others were wounded in an explosion in Mindanao State University-Marawi, which was perpetrated by two members of the Daulah Islamiyah.
The PNP appealed to the public not to take part in spreading such unverified information, assuring that it is already addressing it. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)