The Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (COCPO) has expressed concern over a video showing a content creator allegedly held up while selling live on Facebook.

The video, which circulated online before being taken down by the vlogger, showed a normal livestream before a man wearing a hat suddenly appeared and declared a holdup. He ordered the vlogger to lie face down while another suspect was seen taking several mobile phones displayed on a shelf behind him. The victim can be heard gasping in fear during the incident.

COCPO said the video has reached their office and directed all station commanders to verify whether any incident was recorded in their respective areas.

“Gi-direct diretso ang tanan station commanders to check nga naa bay naka record sa ilang area tungod kay during sa vlog ug sa posting wala gyud gi-i-dentify ang lugar kung asa kini nahitabo,” COCPO Spokesperson, Capt. Emilita Simon, said.

Simon added that no report of the incident was filed at any police station in the city. Authorities also tried to reach out to the vlogger through his social media account but to no avail.

In a statement posted online, the vlogger said he chose not to report the incident. He expressed frustration claiming that his store was robbed in 2017 but despite his cooperation with the police, justice has not been served.

He also reportedly filed several complaints in recent years but these were not resolved.

However, police said social media is not the proper venue for reporting crimes.

“Social media is not the legal and proper venue diin iyang ipahayag ang iyang mga statements. Yes, naa siya experience, we consider that, but katong incident nga pag hold-up is also a police concern,” Simon said.

COCPO was alarmed, saying the video paints a negative image of the city’s police force.

“Kung nahitabo man gani to sa Cagayan de Oro, we are inviting him nga modangop sa COCPO mismo ang City Director is well informed… we could attend to his concern para maimbestigahan nato ang concern sa pagpang hold-up,” Simon added.

GMA Regional TV One Mindanao has reached out to the vlogger for a statement, but he has yet to respond as of this writing.