AFP junks suicide bomber report as fake news

MANILA, Philippines — The Armed Forces of the Philippines dismissed as “fake news” a report by a Singaporean newspaper that a Sri Lankan couple has sneaked into the country to carry out attacks in Luzon.

AFP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said the report stemmed from a man who passed on false information to several government agencies because of a family quarrel.

Arevalo said a certain Diosdado Sto. Domingo sent an anonymous email to the agencies claiming that his estranged Sri Lankan partner, Anarkalie Palliyaguruge, was a terrorist financier.

Sto. Domingo also claimed that his daughter, Victoria Sophia Sto. Domingo, and her boyfriend, Mark Kevin Samhoon, were suicide bombers who were sent to launch terror attacks in Luzon.

The newspaper carried the report on Aug. 9, identifying their source as military analyst Rommel Banlaoi.

But Sophia, a Filipino and Sri Lankan citizen who came home in November 2018, went to the National Bureau of Investigation on July 22 to deny the allegations.

Arevalo did not say why Diosdado would do that to his estranged partner and his daughter, who had recently given birth to a son by Samhoon, but the military, he said, had verified Sophia’s explanation.

Consequently, AFP chief of staff Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr. urged the public “not to be swayed by unverified media reports or information from individuals, Arevalo said.