MANILA, Philippines — Days after the Ateneo Law School (ALS) graduation shooting that took the lives of former Lamitan Mayor Rose Furigay and two others, one of her daughters reports that her family has been receiving death threats due to disinformation about the late former public official.
Kelsey Furigay said the threats were from "trolls or the killer’s sympathizers or supporters". A Rappler report on social media posts about the shooting noted that more than half of Facebook posts were "supportive" of Chao Tiao Yumol, the suspect in the shooting.
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"I will start by saying that there is a huge troll problem on Facebook and social media. There’s an alarming amount of disinformation," Kelsey said, adding that the disinformation epidemic prompted her to write the post in an attempt to clear her mother’s reputation.
The former Lamitan City mayor was gunned down in broad daylight at Ateneo de Manila University’s Areté last Sunday afternoon right before her other daughter’s law school graduation.
Yumol also shot Furgay’s long-time aide Victor Capistrano and Ateneo security guard Jeneven Bandiala. The gunman injured others as well, including Kelsey’s twin sister and ALS graduate, Hannah Furigay.
He has since been indicted by the Quezon City prosecutor’s office and is facing three counts of murder and a complaint for frustrated murder. He has also been indicted for malicious mischief.
READ: Quezon City prosecutor’s office indicts Ateneo gunman
However, some social media users have rallied behind Yumol for supposedly exposing the illegal drug trade in Lamitan City.
This is despite the Philippine National Police’s Drug Enforcement Group already clearing the Furigay’s case in 2019 and by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in 2021.
"She is already gone,” Kesley wrote. “But the fact that this is all happening with the disinformation in the media, the fake news peddlers and the pushy media personnel, makes it even harder for us to grieve in peace."
She said that the shooting "was personal," citing several news items that reported on the cease and desist order (CDO) served to Yumol by the BARMM Ministry of Health in May 2019 for operating a clinic without a license.
Two months later, Rose Furigay would also issue Yumol a similar order for failing to comply with guidelines. Yumol reportedly did not apply for a license.
Yumol and Furigay were supposed to appear in court last Monday on a slew of cyberlibel cases that the Furigays filed against him after he wrote "several malicious insinuations" against them on social media.
Meanwhile, Kelsey also clarified that their family is not involved in the death of Rolando Yumol, Chao Tiao's father.
"Please, we are in mourning. We do not have it in our hearts to think of revenge because the pain is just too grave," Kelsey said.
Their family’s lawyer, Quirino Esguerra, previously said that the Furigays were "shocked and saddened" by the murder of the elder Yumol.