By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo issued a warning to netizens in the Negros Island Region (NIR) to stop spreading fake news on social media.
In a statement by the Joint Task Force Leon Kilat, the council chaired by the governor, he called on Negrenses to remain calm and vigilant, especially with recent incidents in Mindanao.
Task force executive director Bimbo Miraflor said Degamo warned about consuming unconfirmed information on social media while assuring local governments in the region that his group is in close coordination with local law enforcement and military agencies.
“The sharing of qualified intelligence or information on social media is highly disturbing and unnecessary,” Miraflor said.
He also reacted to recent reports surrounding seven “car bombs” supposedly bound for Manila, saying, local law enforcement in Negros Oriental is currently verifying the reports, adding, three of the seven vehicles on the list provided by the Philippine National Police (PNP) Maritime Group turned up on Land Transportation Office (LTO) records.
Earlier, the PNP Maritime unit issued a lookout bulletin regarding the seven vehicles, which originated from the Dapitan City port in Zamboanga Del Norte.
Some of the politicians in NIR expressed their doubts over the report, which was released by a non-commissioned officer of the PNP.
However, the Police Regional Office-18 (PRO-18) released a statement saying the next available ranking officer can issue a memorandum provided he or she has been appointed as officer-in-charge if the commanding officer is unavailable./WDJ