Cagayan de Oro City — A reelected councilor in Cagayan de Oro City went live on Facebook on Sunday to refute a rumor circulating that he had died of a stroke after winning his district one council seat.

“Hello, I am alive, I am healthy, kicking and alive,” Roger Abaday declared in his live video.

Abaday, who ran under the administration Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), was the second-highest vote-getter in his district and serves as the chairman of the City Council. He said he had no idea who started the false report of his death.

In a special report during the 20th City Council’s 120th regular session, Abaday also condemned an incident on 16 April where several men allegedly forced their way into the Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD) facility.

Describing the incident as “alarming and aggressive,” Abaday denounced the actions of uniformed personnel and unidentified individuals wearing hoods and masks. He expressed serious concern over the psychological impact on COWD employees and the damage to both the facility and public trust.

“The tension that erupted in full view of employees and the public was a clear affront to due process and the rule of law,” the councilor said. “Such acts have no place in public service.”

Abaday urged the COWD management to provide CCTV footage from the day of the incident and called for the presence of the Philippine National Police Provincial Mobile Force, Cagayan de Oro Police Office, COWD management and board, and other individuals of interest to appear before the council’s committee on public order and safety, chaired by Councilor Romeo Calizo, to present their accounts.

“This is about defending the dignity of our institutions and standing against intimidation in any form,” Abaday said.