OTP is being sent twice

I use iTexMo to send my OTP through SMS. It's a local SMS API here in the Philippines that is integrated with a simple function definition. It works successfully when sending notifications, however, when trying to send OTP, it sends twice.

• I've checked my routes and controller, and only call the itexmoLocal() function once. What could I be doing wrong?
• Another question, my OTP is sent once the route phone-verify is opened, but of course, upon refresh of the page, the OTP will be sent again. Is there a way for me to avoid sending the OTP multiple times upon page refresh?

iTexmoLocal function definition and checkIfSent function in my helpers.php file so I can call the function from anywhere:

 //##########################################################################
    // ITEXMO SEND SMS API - PHP - CURL-LESS METHOD
    // Visit www.itexmo.com/developers.php for more info about this API
    //##########################################################################
    function itexmoLocal($number,$message,$apicode = "#",$passwd = "#"){
        $url = 'https://www.itexmo.com/php_api/api.php';
        $itexmo = array('1' => $number, '2' => $message, '3' => $apicode, 'passwd' => $passwd);
        $param = array(
            'http' => array(
                'header'  => "Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\r\n",
                'method'  => 'POST',
                'content' => http_build_query($itexmo),
            ),
        );
        $context  = stream_context_create($param);
        return file_get_contents($url, false, $context);
    }

 // iTexMo checking
    function checkIfSent($result){
        if ($result == ""){
            console_log("iTexMo: No response from server!!!
            Please check the METHOD used (CURL or CURL-LESS). If you are using CURL then try CURL-LESS and vice versa.
            Please CONTACT US for help. ");
            }else if ($result == 0){
            console_log("Message Sent!");
            }
            else{
             console_log("Error Num ". $result . " was encountered!");
            }
    }

    //##########################################################################

Routes:

Route::get('phone-verify/{jobseeker:id}',[RegistrationController::class,'verifyPhonePage']);

RegistrationController:

// Main Phone Verification Page
    public function verifyPhonePage(Jobseeker $jobseeker) {
           // Send Verification Message
            $number = $jobseeker->contact_number;
            $otp = Otp::generate($number);
            $SMS = "Your OTP is: ".$otp;
            $result = itexmoLocal($number,$SMS);
            checkIfSent($result);
            return view('verify.verify-phone',[
                'jobseeker_number' => $number
            ]);

    }

Note: I put # where the API key and password should be for security purposes