Cops to sue 2 men for tsunami hoax

CEBU, Philippines - The radio blocktimer and Ermita barangay councilman tagged in relation to last Monday’s panic after a 6.9 magnitude quake shook Cebu denied the allegations against them.

The police, however, will push through with the filing of charges against them for causing the unfortunate incident.

The FREEMAN is withholding the names of the two pending the filing of the case.

Thousands of people “ran for their lives” when word about a tsunami hitting downtown Cebu City spread.

The two went to the Cebu City Police Office after they were invited to shed light on accusations against them.

The blocktimer told The FREEMAN that he “was not a culprit but also a victim himself.”

A blocktimer is somebody who buys airtime from a radio station in order to broadcast his program.They are not employees of the station.

Prior to the tsunami scare, he said that he was at his office at Sitio Kalmar, Barangay Lawaan 1, Talisay City, together with his son, Godreign, 22, and secretary, Grace Gioda.

After the quake struck shortly before noon, Gioda asked him if she could hitch a ride to get money from her husband at C. Padilla Street, Barangay Mambaling.While they were on their way there, they met a swarm of terrified people, he said.

“When I saw people running, I thought that they were running from a fire.But when I asked, someone told me that a tsunami was coming,” the blocktimer said in Cebuano.

Frightened, Gioda took her two children onboard the blocktimer’s motorcycle and asked to go to F. Rallos Street, Barangay Pasil, to fetch another child of hers.

When they arrived at Barangay Pasil, he took the chance to phone his son, who was left in Talisay, instructing him to flee to higher grounds.

But because his phone allegedly had some technical problems, he literally shouted two to three times to his son over the phone saying, “Dong (Godreign), pangita’g bukid kay dinhi sa Sugbo, nag-tsunami na.” (Look for higher ground because there is a tsunami in the city).

He said that there were several people around him while he was talking with his son over the phone.

After the phone call, he said that he took Gioda and her three children on his motorcycle and they headed to Barangay Guadalupe.

Councilman’s story

The councilman, on the other hand, said he was doing his job as a barangay official throughout Monday’s chaos.

As the chairman of the disaster coordinating council of the barangay, he said he was one of the first to verify reports of the tsunami scare together with barangay captain Antonieto Flores.

He said they inspected the coastal area of their barangay to check if there were abnormal changes in the sea level.

After checking the coast, their team patrolled their barangay inspecting houses and informing their constituents that the tsunami scare was just a hoax.

“I’m a barangay official and I would not do such thing to make it (panic) worse,” he said.

Both men reported to the police yesterday to clear their names, adding that they had no idea why and how they were tagged in line with Monday’s tsunami scare.

Charges to be filed

Chief Insp. Romeo Santander, Cebu City Intelligence chief, however, said they are serious in filing charges against the two.

Santander said three witnesses have positively identified both to have done something which led to the wide-spread panic.

He, however, did not disclose who the three witnesses were.

“Sila gyud ang nag-una-una before nagkagubot ang mga tawo ug mao na ila nakita nga nagsyagit-syagit. The damage has been done ug di na nato mabalik.” (They started it and the people saw that they were shouting.The damage has been done, we cannot undo that), he said.

The intelligence chief said they are currently getting the affidavits of three witnesses so charges can be filed today.

Initially, Santander said the two might face charges for violating Article 153 of the Revised Penal Code or for circulating false information, which led to public disturbance.

The Investigation and Detection Management Branch has been tasked to continue the investigation along with CIB.(FREEMAN)