Tomas to give tipster reward if Bohol won’t

CEBU, Philippines - If the Bohol government will not give the money, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is willing to shell out P100,000 as reward to the habal-habal driver who tipped authorities of the presence of the Abu Sayyaf members in Bohol.

“I’m willing to give something personal because this is really something the kind of encouragement we’d like to give to our population. If Bohol doesn’t give, we will give,” he said.

He said it is important to acknowledge the courage of an informant in giving information to authorities because doing so often entails sacrificing one’s safety and security.

The tip led authorities to pursue remaining Abu Sayyaf members in Clarin town. Two encounters on Saturday led to the death of four bandits, including Joselito Melloria a.k.a. Alih, the group’s point person in the island.

Melloria, a native of Bohol, reportedly became a member of the Abu Sayyaf after he married the daughter of one of the group’s leader from Zamboanga del Sur. He converted to the Muslim faith after the marriage in 2005.

A prior encounter between government troops and the Abu Sayyaf during the Holy Week led to the death of five members of the terror group. Four government troops, however, also died.

Since the encounters in Bohol, authorities have urged the public to be vigilant and report suspicious persons in their communities but this also led to many alarming, unverified posts on social media.

In this regard, Osmeña called on Cebuanos to be more responsible online.

“I want to encourage the population that if you see something suspicious, report it, just don’t put it on Facebook because everybody panics. Daghan mag chismis dinha,” he added.

Osmeña said he has received information that some teenagers are now afraid to leave their houses because of fake information about the presence of Abu Sayyaf here that they see online.

Osmeña said he is confident that the Muslim community in Cebu City will help secure the city from the extremist group, which is based in Mindanao.

“The Muslim community will not allow them. They can only come in as individual, hiding in an apartment or anywhere. I know that the Muslim community will report it,” Osmeña said. (FREEMAN)