A copy of the memorandum circulated through the Internet.
Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO 7) director Chief Superintendent Noli Taliño and the management of the country’s leading malls have refuted rumors being circulated through text messages and the internet of a bomb threat in its malls in Cebu.
This after a memorandum of the supposed bomb threat on SM malls that was allegedly issued by Camp Crame, the headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP), started circulating in different social media including Facebook and Twitter.
Before the document circulated in the internet, text messages containing the same information was also being shared. The message which supposedly came from “SM Officers” claimed they got a message from the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf demanding to be paid $15 million or else they would bomb an SM mall. The “SM officers” claimed they were on high alert and asked the message recipient to avoid any SM branch.
The SM management in Cebu immediately belied the information as a hoax.
“We would like to confirm the information being re-circulated has been verified to be a hoax thru a joint investigation of our company and the local PNP in several areas. Moreover, the said information did not come from any SM Officer. We continue to stay alert and committed to the security and well-being of customers, tenants and employees at all times,” said a statement issued this afternoon by the SM City Cebu management.
Taliño also stressed that there was no threat to any SM mall in Metro Cebu.
“Wala tayong threat na narerecieve,” Taliño said.
Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak, the city’s deputy mayor on police matters, said he also received the same message and immediately told the police about it to get it verified.
He urged the public to stop spreading the document as it has been verified to be a a hoax.