Thousands of people fled home in the southern Philippines after receiving text messages warning that tsunami would hit their province, a local newspaper reported Tuesday.

Assemblyman Ismael Abubakar of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao told the Philippine Star that some villagers in Tawi-Tawilater returned home after they were convinced that text messages were circulated by pranksters.

"It's so sad that our people were victimized by foolish text messages," he said. "What is painful is that we don't know how to determine the origin of the prank text messages."

However, more villagers went into panic after another wave of text messages reporting that eight fishermen were killed and hundreds of residents missing after a tsunami struck Bungis islandnear the border with Malaysia.

Abubakar said that those casualties have been denied by Tawi-Tawi officials and the provincial police.

"What gave the prank text messages a sort of credibility was that they were made to appear as statement of high government officials," he said.

At least five Filipinos have been identified as among those whoperished in the tsunamis that struck 11 countries from Southeast Asia to Africa on Dec. 26, 2004.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Monday declared Jan. 7, Friday, a National Day of Mourning for the thousands of victims.

The president said that she would lead the day of prayer in solidarity with neighboring Asian countries affected by the catastrophe, a day after she attends the special summit on the disaster relief effort in Jakarta, Indonesia.

"I'd like to announce that we're going to have a National Day of Mourning for those who perished in the tsunami on Friday, the day after I come back from the summit. Friday is a good day to have prayers because the Muslims pray, especially on Friday," she said in a press conference.

Arroyo is due to attend the donors' conference in Jakarta on Thursday, where world leaders, including heads of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), will meet to coordinate the massive relief operations for the tsunami-ravaged countries.