Cops to revive CFR probe

Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) is set to revive the investigation on the bomb scare post of a social media page, which stirred panic in Barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City last July 4.

“Anyway, since binubuhay yan, we will look into that manner again. But as I said, that is fake news. We should not be bothered, or cause panic sa ating mga community,” said Chief Superintendent Jose Mario Espino, PRO-7 director.

The previous Cebu Flash Report (CFR) page, which has about 387,000 followers, posted on its page a “diffused bomb.” The post generated 10,000 mixed reactions, 1,000 comments and was shared 2,600 times, 27 minutes after it was posted.

CFR was investigated for posting erroneous information about an alleged bomb found in the city. The suspicious item which CFR identified as bomb in its post turned out to be a transistor radio unintentionally left by the owner.

CFR recently claimed that the issue was already settled with the police and the city government, contrary to the statements of former regional director Chief Superintendent Noli Taliño and Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza.

“CFR has been lingering ilang months na, I'm considering it to be a fake news that we should not be bothered ourselves. Wala dapat tayong ika-panic dun, that has been investigated before na turn out na hoax na man pala,” Espino said.

On July 7, Chief Inspector Leo Dofiles, Chief of Regional Anti-Cyber Crime Office, told The FREEMAN that two persons of interest – one was a Cebu-based photojournalist and a job order employee of Lapu-Lapu City Information Office – were implicated in the incident.

But he said the personalities denied involvement with CFR, but had divulged names of possible culprits.

On July 20, Chief Inspector Leo Dofiles said the case is considered closed after they submitted report to the Regional Director's Office on July 18.