By Leilanie G. Adriano
Staff reporter
SARRAT,
Ilocos Norte—At least 42 residents were
victimized by a text scam in at least two barangays here.
According to Brgy. 3
chairperson Egypto Barcarce, he received a call from a certain Albert Gudoy
directing him to gather at least 10 widows in his barangay including their
children and siblings to go to the Provincial Capitol to receive aid for
indigent widows courtesy of Ilocos Norte Governor Ma. Imelda “Imee” R.
Marcos.
On August 1 at
about 1:00pm, the barangay chairpersons of Barangays 3 and 23 in Sarrat accompanied
the 20 widows, most of them senior citizens, along with some of their children
and siblings to the Capitol. They even hired two public utility jeepneys to
ferry them.
However, when the Provincial
Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) was asked about the governor’s
special program for the widows and orphans, the PSWDO said the governor had no
order about it.
As Capitol workers tried to
call the number 0918-2138725 for verification, the same number is already out
of coverage area.
In view of this, Sangguniang
Panlalawigan ex-officio member Charles Tadena in his capacity as federated
president of the Liga ng mga Barangay in Ilocos Norte appealed to barangays officials
and residents to always verify first if a call or text message to them is real.
“I know it’s hard to mobilize
people in the barangay so I suggest that whenever they receive a call or a
text message from anonymous persons, they have to verify first at the Office of
the Barangay Affairs to avoid waste of time and money,” Mr. Tadena stressed.
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