BACOLOD City – Mayor Alfredo Marañon III of Sagay City, Negros Occidental has warned residents against spreading fake coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) information following the arrests of two teenagers in the city who claimed they had been infected of the virus.
“I am warning the public not to spread false information, rumors or even jokes that can cause undue panic and fear to the populace in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis,” Marañon III said in a statement on April 14.
A male minor was arrested by personnel of the Sagay City Police Station for joking that he tested positive for COVID-19 last Tuesday.
Meanwhile, 18-year-old senior high school student Argie Ligaray was also apprehended by police officers at his residence in Barangay Plaridel around 12:30 p.m. after he claimed on Facebook that he was showing symptoms of the virus such as dry cough, difficulty in breathing and fever. He even attempted to escape.
“Positive po ako sa sakit na COVID-19,” Ligaray said in one post.
He added in another post: “And now I want to die.”
Sagay City police station chief Major
Antonio Benitez Jr., for his part, said that they decided to track down Ligaray
after his social media posts caught the attention of the Sagay City
Inter-Agency Task Force COVID-19 and the police.
Ligaray is detained and charged with violation of Republic Act (RA) 11469, or
the Bayanihan to Heal as one Act of 2020, which strictly forbids spreading
false information about COVID-19.
He has also been checked and cleared by the Sagay City Health Office after he did not show symptoms of the virus. Ligaray did not also travel to places with positive cases of COVID-19 and had no exposure to persons suspected to have the infection.
He later apologized through a video on Facebook. He said he did not know what to do with his life that he decided to post something about the virus.
“We will not hesitate to penalize any violator of RA 11469 Section 6 (f). So think before you click,” the mayor said.
Sagay City now has no record of what was previously known as persons under investigation.
As of Tuesday, meanwhile, the city has 16 remaining persons under monitoring from the initial 3,220.(With a report from PNA/PN)
