Irresponsible texters ‘kill’ 2 Baguio athletes

BANGUED, Abra — Irresponsible texters "killed" them. Two Baguio City athletes taking part in the ongoing Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association (CARAA) meet here fell prey to "bad text" which reported them to have died of electrocution at the Divine Word College of Abra where they were billeted.

The text messages began circulating in the night of March 10, and swamped the cellphones of local subscribers. The response was shift, too — denial and anger.

Perfecto Cardenas, a Divine Word faculty member and CARAA tournament manager for basketball, said everything was a hoax. Officials of the Baguio delegation, coaches, and the athletes’ chaperons and trainors backed this up.

Cardenas said Fr. Jerome Adriatico, Divine Word president, himself denied the report.

He said the irresponsible text message was the handiwork of idle people who wanted to scare others and discredit the school and the province as a whole.

Baguio is one of six provinces taking part in 16 events in the regional sports meet. The rest are Mt. Province, Kalinga, Apayao, Ifugao and Benguet. — Ave Bello