Public urged: Stop posting unverified reports about sightings of Gisela’s body

THE POLICE are calling on the public to stop posting false and unverified information on social media about the retrieval operations of Bien Unido Mayor Gisela Bendong-Boniel.

Senior Insp. Librado Bigkas, Bien Unido Police Station chief, made the call after they received calls and reports from social media claiming that the body of Mayor Gisela was allegedly seen and washed off the waters of Nuknukan Island in Talibon town in Bohol province.

Bigkas dismissed these reports as false.

He said they verified these reports and found it false.

“Problema man gud naa sa Facebook magbutang og mga balita nga wala hibaw-e kug tinood ba or dili. Gibutang lang diha (in Facebook) nga naa maong magkagubot (The problem here is that there are people who will post in Facebook without knowing if it is true or not.

They just post it without verifying and these can lead to confusion),” Bigkas said.

He said that on Friday someone called the police station saying that she saw a post in social media about the body of Boniel sighted in Talibon.

“I called up Talibon Police Station to ask for their help to verify the report since Nuknukan Island is part of Talibon. But it turned out negative,” Bigkas said in Cebuano.

He also said that in the past days, there had been false reports circulating that a fish net that smelled and had blood on it was seen in a pump boat.

He asked the public especially those using social media to stop circulating these unverified and false information.

“Ayaw mo post diretso, report dayon sa pulis kung nay makit-an (Don’t post it on social media, if you saw something you report it to the police),” Bigkas said.