Your parents were on to something when they said: “don’t talk to strangers.”
This is what Facebook user Vallerre Jhoy Cabuang learned on Saturday night while walking home from work in Bacoor, Cavite. A stranger gave her a letter she refused to read. It turned out that reading it would’ve turned her into a hostage.
Cabuang said in her Facebook post yesterday that the incident happened at 7:40pm. A stranger suddenly gave her a note saying that someone wanted to give it to her.
She told Coconuts Manila in a Facebook message that the man was tall and thin and seemed like he was under the influence of illegal drugs.
“[He told me] it wasn’t from him and he tried to point to someone behind us, but there was no one there,” she wrote in Filipino in the post.
She added that since she did not know the guy, she ignored him and continued walking.
Cabuang eventually took the note but did not read it. But the dude was persistent and kept bugging her to read the note.
“He asked if I read the [note] I answered him no because it’s dark,” she says in the post. She added that it looked like there was something inside the man’s pocket.
She said in the Facebook post: “He approached me and told me, ‘Come with me.'”
This scared Cabuang but she remained calm and pretended to not hear him.
It didn’t make it any better when she finally saw what was written on the letter.
While walking in a lit pathway with the man still following her, she read the note which said: “Don’t scream. If you scream, I will shoot you in the head.”
Holy crap.
Cabuang walked as calmly as she could while the man continued to follow her. The guy didn’t stop until Cabuang reached a Total gasoline station at Barangay (Village) Molino 4.
Cabutang told Coconuts Manila through a Facebook message that when she was at the gas station, the man was staring at her from afar but didn’t approach her anymore. After a while, the man finally left.
She asked for help from the gas station’s employees while she cried and explained to them what just happened.
In the post, she said she only managed to file a blotter on the incident and hoped that the man will be arrested so he won’t have any other victims.
She told Coconuts Manila that the biggest takeaway from this experience was to never accept anything from any stranger.
“[We] should also learn basic self-defense, be more vigilant and alert, [and to] never walk at night by yourself.”
She also said that commuters shouldn’t try to save money when it comes to one’s safety. She told Coconuts Manila that she was saving money, which was why she was walking home.
The Facebook post had over 7,400 likes and 11,000 shares as of this article’s posting. Netizens were alarmed by the incident, tagging others to be more alert.
Facebook user Nich Bendigo Gallano tagged a friend and wrote: “[Don’t] walk alone at [night].”
Joe Pards tagged a friend and wrote: “This is why I always accompany you going home.”
Tina Cayanan Singson also tagged a friend and told her not to accept anything from a stranger and not to walk by herself. “Always walk with a lot of other people.”
Have you experienced anything like this? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @CoconutsManila.
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