The Davao City Police Office (DCPO) yesterday appealed to the public against sharing text messages warning Davaoeños about an impending terror attack in light of the two bombings in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat earlier this week.
City police director, Sr. Supt. Alexander Tagum, said they are not discounting the possibility of an attack “but please let us advise our people not to be scared by these series of bomb scares.”
A screenshot of the hoax text message has been shared multiple times on Facebook. Tagum said that those who share the message are unwittingly feeding the fear, which is actually the goal of the terrorist groups.
“The intention of terrorism is precisely what is happening to most of our people, to scare them in a way that simply walking out in the streets is becoming impossible,” Tagum said.
The city police director also reminded the public that spreading false bomb threat and bomb joke is a violation of Presidential Decree 1727.
The law covers those who willfully make any threat or maliciously communicates deceitful information by word of mouth, mail, telephone, telegraph, or other instruments, or means of communication.
If caught, the violator will face up to five years imprisonment or a fine of not more than P40,000.
“We must together fight terrorism by showing them that we are not afraid and that we will fight them when they enter our beloved city,” he said. “Fight them with our vigilance and common resolve that we will not be cowed.”
Meanwhile, the Malayan Colleges of Mindanao along MacArthur highway in Matina received a bomb threat at 10:01 a.m. on Tuesday.
The Talomo Police Precinct, led by the officer-in-charge Sr. Insp Bernie Suaga, went to the school to verify the report. The threat was received through a text message by a faculty staff.
The message read, “Nakapangit ng security niyo IED Bombs nakapasok na sa Mapua Mindanao vacate school as soon as possible (Your security is lax. IED bombs are already inside Mapua Mindanao).”
They called Central 911 and the operator then deployed the K9 Unit and Davao City Police Office and the Explosive Ordnance Team to check the information.
They later cleared the area. For now, the police are tracking the number of the unidentified sender.
