Police dispel rumors of terror cadres in town

Stay calm. It’s just a hoax.

The region’s top police official yesterday denied reports that a group of Abu Sayyaf cadres are in Cebu to sow terror as part of a test mission.

“Wala pong katotohanan ‘yon (That’s not true at all),” said Chief Supt. Danilo Constantino, director of the Police Regional Office 7, said after a meeting with police and security officials to assess the reported threat.

He said heads of various police intelligence units who were directed to verify the report which spread via text messaging, said there was no basis to say that Central Visayas was being targeted by terrorists.

“We assure (the people) that we are on top of the situation,” Constantino said.

“I’m appealing to the public not to glorify these rumors. It’s not good for our economy, particularly our tourism industry. Let’s put a stop to these jokes,” he said in Filipino.

One hoax text message said Abu Sayyaf cadres were holed up in a safehouse in Lapu-Lapu city.

Text messages had circulated in the last two days claiming that after the bombings in Mindanao theVisayas will be Abu Sayyaf’s next target, specifically the cities of Cebu, Dumaguete and Bacolod.

Constantino appealed to the public not to immedidately believe such reports and to refrain from forwarding alarming text messages that fan public anxiety.

“There’s no cause for the public to be alarmed, but we cannot discount the probability and we are ready (to respond to threats),” Constantino said

The meeting at Camp Sergio Osmeña involved the regional anti-terrorism committe convergence group.

Nonetheless, authorities are not letting their guard down.

As a precautionary measure, Constantino ordered all provincial and city directors to field more police patrols.

“There’s no truth to the report that Cebu is being targeted for bombing,” said Supt. Paul Labra II, chief of the Regional Intelligence Division (RID) after the meeting.

MISUNDERSTANDING

Jitters and overreaction almost got a woman in trouble yesterday.

The 27-year-old woman, a former sales agent, was intercepted by police at the Mactan Cebu International Airport after the ground staff of a local airline reported that she had made a bomb threat over the phone.

It turned out to be a “misunderstanding”, said the police. The airline’s call center agent who attended to the woman misinterpreted her query.

Senior Supt. Ritchie Posadas, chief of the regional Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said they received a call from the Police Center for Aviation Security (PCAS) seeking their intervention.

The airline ground staff alerted them that the female caller told them about a bomb explosion in the airports in Cebu and Cagayan de Oro City. A team was immediately sent to the MCIA departure area to intercept the caller.

The woman denied making a bomb threat. She said she merely asked about a text message she received about an alleged bombing threat in airports in Cebu and Cagayan de Oro.

The woman, a regular passenger of the airline, was immediately released and was allowed to board her flight to Bacolod.

In North Cotabato, Mindanao, four people were wounded when a grenade went off last night outside a house of a militiaman in Kabacan.

A 40mm grenade ammunition was fired at the residence of Eddie Antolin, who was wounded in the attack together with his 9-year-old son and his in-laws Benjamin and Lucena Ferrer.