GARMA
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The public should be cautious in spreading information especially “baseless information” online.
Senior Superintendent Royina Garma, Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) director, made this call on Saturday, January 5, after she met with the business process outsourcing (BPO) worker, who texted Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña that the police failed to respond to some robbery incidents in the Cebu IT Park in Barangay Apas in December.
Garma invited the texter to the CCPO headquarters to clarify the issue. The CCPO requested that the individual remain unnamed for her safety.
The female BPO worker at E Block 3, texted the mayor that a robbery incident occurred in E Block 3 and claimed that the police allegedly never responded.
Senior Inspector Arieza Velasco-Otida, CCPO’s public information officer, said that the CCPO sought confirmation of the reports from the Mabolo Police Station that investigated the alleged unreported robbery incident.
Otida said that the investigations showed that no such incident happened at the IT Park.
Garma said she was concerned with the FB post that spread quickly on social media because it had affected the “image” of the police.
The BPO worker met with Garma and Superintendent Juanito Alaras, Mabolo Police Station chief, on January 5 so that she could shed light about her claims.
Otida said that the BPO worker admitted that she was not a victim of any robbery in the Cebu IT Park, but she was simply relaying to the mayor the stories she had heard from her colleagues.
“The woman told our director that she only wanted to relay her concerns to the mayor and (she) did not mean to put the police in a bad light,” said Otida.
The BPO worker also sent a letter to Garma, where she explained the lurking issue among her BPO friends that a robbery happened in E Block 2 and and E Block 3, which nobody reported.
“I am just a concerned citizen asking for some help and more security. I am not a victim,” said the call center agent.
The woman’s request was that the city would put more lights in the dark areas of the IT Park where robbers often do their crimes.
Garma assured the public that the Mabolo Police had been efficient in securing the area and could respond to any given alarm or complaint.
However, she said that the concerns about the lighting could not be addressed by the police and must be solved by the city government.
The CCPO said that they had also no plans of filing charges against the BPO worker./dbs