Netizens circulated a report on armed robberies that supposedly took place in restaurants in Quezon City recently. This is false.
Both the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) and the Quezon City Local Government denied that such incidents happened in the city recently.
The report has been going around social media platforms since 2018 and this month, Facebook (FB) users shared similar status updates warning restaurant diners after armed robbers allegedly attacked three food establishments in the city and took hundreds of thousands of cash and other valuables from the owners and customers.
An Oct. 5 post read:
“Forwarding from another thread. Be careful eating out! PLS PASS & BE EXTRA CAREFUL GUYS..
*(1) Namiya Izakaya*…the small jap Resto at sct tobias, beside Panaderia closed today, last night armed men robbed owner including customers, took total 100 thousand cash + jewellery + cellphones!!!
*2. Banawe Starbucks* beside UCC held up last night.. in just 1 minute..
*3. Shangrila chinese seafood cuisine at times st.* Near kowloon house held up yesterday afternoon 1:00 pm took almost 250k worth cash, cellphones, bags from customers while eating lunch.. robbers are also eating during that time then get away car altis & fortuner wt no plate numbers parked along west ave.. they are reviewing cctv wt police… Double ingat na talaga (We should really be extra careful).”
This is not true. The QCPD debunked the report in their Oct. 8 FB post. QCPD District Director Police General Redrico Maranan said that “there is no concrete evidence to support the claims” and advised netizens to be cautious of unverified information online.
The false report circulated the same week the QCPD recorded a 25% decline in the city’s crime rate. The QCPD logged 30 incidents from Oct. 2 to 8, 10 crimes lower than the previous week’s record.
On Oct. 6, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte issued a statement strongly denying the claim and saying that the fake report only aims to cause fear among the citizens and tarnish the city’s image.
Several netizens have been posting the same status on FB since 2018, and most recently last April and again this month.
According to an April 8 post by the National Capital Region Police Office, the incident at the Japanese restaurant happened in 2018 and the establishment has already improved its security protocols ever since. Meanwhile, no such incident was recorded in Banawe Starbucks and the Chinese restaurant in 2018 or this year.
VERA Files Fact Check previously flagged a fake advisory supposedly from the Philippine National Police warning netizens about a modus to steal from, rape and kidnap females. (Read FAKE advisory on rape-kidnap-steal modus not from PNP)
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
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