I would like to share a statement made by Malou Lacson Pineda, Senior Vice President, Power Plant Mall Rockwell.  We all know about the emails going around about incidents about Power Plant mall.  It is however not true yet many have been forwarding and spreading the stories without verifying it’s truthfulness.  Malou told me that all their restrooms have guards in the entrances so for sure they will notice and they have CCTV cameras in the hallways facing the entrances of the restrooms so if it did happen, the victms family could have easily asked them to view the tapes.  I know also that Rockwell is very particular about safety.  I love this ad they put in their development in the area

I hope this will once and for all stop the rumors.  May I please ask you to forward this to all your friends and family so they will stop worrying

Thank you for concern on the safety of the Rockwell Community.

Rest assured that Rockwell’s Security Team has been consistently vigilant on the welfare of our neighbourhood and our valued patrons.

Please be informed however, that this is merely an urban legend that traces back to the early ‘90’s involving shopping malls abroad and no such instance has occurred within the Rockwell Center. 

As a friend of Rockwell, I would like to request for you to share the following statement with your family and friends.

A Call for Responsible Use of Social Media

It has come to our attention that an old urban legend that began in the 90’s in the US about children being kidnapped and harassed inside malls have been circulating online. Recently, the Power Plant Mall became the new victim of this online hoax. Many have expressed concern over the alleged incident after the extent of “shares” made through e-mails and networking sites. Like the rest of the anxious public, we are alarmed by this malicious report, more so by the carelessness of sharing misleading and wrong information without any solid grounds.

We reiterate that the alleged kidnapping occurrence in shopping malls has been long-dubbed as a mere urban legend. It has been exposed on certain websites including snopes.com, an online site known for debunking unverified and unchecked claims.

See this link for reference: http://www.snopes.com/horrors/parental/kidnap.asp.

Besides businesses being dragged into the controversy, journalists also fell prey to this misleading information resulting from the failure to evaluate and verify facts.

See this link for reference: http://www.timesofisrael.com/urban-legend-broadcast-as-news-on-channel-10/.

We are all expected to be responsible users of social media and the internet by evaluating what we receive and consider to share or forward to family and friends. Yet so many have ended up being unwitting pawns of individuals who started to circulate this rumour locally but with clear malicious intent.

Even legitimate media reportage is vetted for factual content and even people in media are pilloried for erroneous information. Journalists and those we trust to deliver day-to-day information to us are expected to observe control and responsibility over what they write and propagate. Each of us is liable for our own actions, even in cyberspace.

Thank you very much for your appreciation.

Sincerely,

Malou