'Don't send out false text messages on quakes'

MANILA, Philippines - Bacolod City Bishop Vicente Navarra appealed to the public yesterday not to send out false text messages on supposedly impending earthquakes or tsunamis. 

For his part, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), yesterday said human negligence, and not God or nature, caused the destructive earthquake that hit Negros Island last Monday. 

“I pray and hope that our law enforcement is more serious on how we enforce the law. Be serious because I am not happy that they are always blaming nature and God as if it is God’s sign. No, God is not the designer of sin but we should rather be more serious about human negligence,” Palma told Church-run Radio Veritas.

Navarra appealed to cell phone users to be more responsible in sending out text messages, as false information on an impending earthquake or tsunami only heightens fear among Negrenses.