Illongos told: Don’t panic over yellow stickers

ILOILO CITY—The police asked the Ilonggos not to be bothered by “false information” regarding the yellow stickers with asterisks posted on the walls of some stores and residences.

In a statement, the Police Regional Office in Western Visayas (PRO-6) said these stickers were part of a research of a cigarette manufacturer contrary to what was circulating in the social media that these cold be markings on possible targets of communist rebels, vigilante groups or terror groups especially since some of these were placed on houses near the homes of the policemen.

The speculations rose after the June 18 raid by New People’s Amy rebels in Maasin town in Iloilo.

The rebels overwhelmed the police personnel inside the police station adjacent to the municipal market in the town proper. They took control of the station without firing a shot and fled with 15 firearms, ammunition and radios.

Some speculated that the stickers could be markings on possible targets of communist rebels, vigilante organizations or by terror groups especially because some of the stickers were placed near the houses of policemen.

But the PRO-6 said that the stickers were part of a national trade census project of the cigarette manufacturer PMFTC Inc. in partnership with market research company Kantar TNS.

The survey is aimed at building a database on cigarette selling outlets in the country, the PRO-6 said, citing a letter of project manager Maria Isabel Samaniego.

The stickers are placed on the stores visited by surveyors as a guide and to prevent duplication of work.

The survey is being conducted with permission from local government units, according to Samaniego in her letter.

But the police encouraged residents to remain vigilant and report any “suspicious person” in their locality.