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OFW squashes rumors that he was raped, slain

An overseas Filipino worker in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia had to squash fake news circulating online that he was raped and died.

Raymond Lopez took to Facebook his frustration over some viral posts, videos and memes, on social media bearing a collage of his photos along with bloody images. Others were in-memoriam-style photos of him.

In a Facebook post on October 11, Lopez wrote: “I AM NOT DEAD YET. Do not immediately believe anything you read or see on social media.”

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He said they got hold of the location of the content publisher.

In jest, he said he is more concerned about his workload. “Oh paano guys tambak pa ‘ko ng trabaho!” he wrote.

While Lopez said he did not immediately know why these death rumors began circulating, he clarified that he was not the same OFW in a circulating Youtube video uploaded by a certain Paulo Sanchez and entitled “OFW saSaudi Arabia, Pinatay, Tinanggalan pa ng Mata at Lamang-Loob pag katapos Gahasain”.

Lopez was referring to the death of Lemuel Lansangan, the 39-year-old OFW from Mangaldan, Pangasinan. The latter was sent home with missing eyes and internal organs from Saudi.

Lopez said that he has “received over 7,000 messages from fellow Filipinos worldwide, asking if I am dead?”

“The cover on the fake news was a picture of mine once going viral about my thoughts giving-away a pasalubong in the Philippines way back 2017,” he cautioned netizens.

Treading carefully, he warned the source of the fake news: “The one who make this kind of news should be penalized, doing blogs and putting another person’s picture just to earn money for advertisement payouts is really a ‘bad taste’, Its a shame there are people who enjoy being cruel and nasty to others!”

Last October 12, he posted an in-memoriam photo of him bearing the name, “Raymundo Paulino C. Lopez”. He wrote: “Noong una binigyan n’yo ko ng karamdaman na may taning na ang buhay, sunod binigyan n’yo ko sakit na nakakahawa, sunod sakit na walang lunas, ngayon naman pinagahasa n’yo ko’t pinatay, tinanggalan pa ng mata at lamang-loob! HAPPY NA?”

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In a separate post, he left a message for the purveyor of fake news about him: “[J]ust because we “can” say certain things or post certain things doesn’t mean we should. I’m not going to let what you did to me ruin my happiness forever.”

Lopez has been interviewed by The Filipino Times a number of times; first when his open letter in July 2018 to his friends who were asking for gifts from abroad became viral and then when he returned a wallet containing 8,000 Saudi riyals (Dh7,834) to a bus rider to Olaya in Riyadh in the same month last year.

Meanwhile, TFT also ran an article on the death of Lansangan when his remains were flown to the Philippines last April.

The details and photos in the viral Youtube video clearly do not match.

Staff Report

The Filipino Times is the chronicler of stories for, of and by Filipinos all over the world, reaching more than 236 countries in readership. Any interesting story to share? Email us at [email protected]

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