News Roundup 18 March 2022
Mar 18, 2022 • 5 min Read
Journalist says Facebook account hacked, posted pro-Marcos content | PHILSTAR.COM – A Filipino journalist said his Facebook account was compromised in the wee hours of Friday and began sharing nude photos of girls and posting content in favor of the Marcoses. Anthony Esguerra, who reports for VICE News and Voice of America, said his account on the social media platform was accessed by someone who appears to be in Vietnam despite having two-factor authentication, backup codes and Facebook Protect, which is supposed to provide stronger security for high-profile users. “I was not notified about the unauthorized access. I also did not get the OTP (one-time pin) or the security code. This is weird and scary,” Esguerra told Philstar.com in an online exchange. After being prompted that his account shared content of child sexual abuse, Esguerra said he immediately deleted these, started a security check, and changed his password and primary email. He said that he also changed the passwords of his emails. He said the nude photos appeared to have been posted from a Windows PC in Mai Ha, Vietnam. “I thought it was over,” Esguerra recounted in a Twitter thread. “Then I got messages from friends who said my account was sharing fake news links about Marcos.” Among the pro-Marcos content that Esguerra’s compromised account posted is a comment on a post by ABS-CBN News red-tagging the campaign of Vice President Leni Robredo and promoting the presidential bid of former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. “There was another unauthorized access to my account. As I was busy doing the security steps, my account was already posting dangerous libelous comments,” Esguerra said. Following this, he said he changed his passwords and primary email anew and has reached out to a contact from Facebook. “This is very dangerous given the sensitivity of the content posted using my verified account,” he told Philstar.com. “I think the goal is to take over credible accounts to seed disinformation. This is very dangerous.”
Ex-Ombudsman Carpio-Morales: Attending debates an imperative for presidential, VP bets | PHILSTAR.COM – Former Supreme Court Associate Justice Secretary and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said Friday that attendance in debates is a must for candidates running for presidential and vice presidential positions, since these venues allow the public to evaluate their qualifications. Carpio-Morales, one of the convenors of opposition coalition 1Sambayan endorsing Vice President Leni Robredo’s bid for the presidency, said this as a reaction to another presidential bet Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s decision to not participate in the upcoming debates held by the poll body. “It is imperative — let me emphasize the word imperative — that candidates for these positions should participate in the debates,” she said during 1Sambayan’s virtual celebration of its anniversary on Friday. “Debates [held] before the conduct of presidential and vice presidential elections afford voters and non-voters, for that matter, to fully assess the qualifications of candidates. They want to know their views, their opinions, their platform on how to govern and check the ills that have been plaguing and are still plaguing the country,” Carpio-Morales added. She compared choosing a candidate with that of a family driver who typically goes through an interview before being hired.
Big fuel price rollback next week, if trend holds | INQUIRER.NET – A big rollback in local pump prices is projected to provide temporary relief to Filipino consumers next week —if the downward movement in oil prices is sustained until today. Fernando Martinez, chair of the Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association and of Eastern Petroleum Corp., said in an interview with the Inquirer on Thursday that there could be a price reduction of as much as P12 a liter for diesel next week. He noted, however, that this could easily be reversed by developments in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine given the volatility of the global oil market. “The computation as of yesterday is that [the rollback] could be P12 [a liter] for diesel. If the movement of (oil) prices would be the same as the first three days of this week, more or less it can be P12,” he said. In an interview with radio station dzBB, Martinez said that as of Wednesday this week, the rollback was P2 to P3 a liter, which he noted could change by Friday. Local prices at the pump range from P70 to P80 a liter, depending on the grade. Since January, prices of gasoline and diesel have already increased by P20.35 and P30.65, respectively. Local fuel prices move on a weekly basis and use as benchmark the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS), which is the daily average of all trading transactions between buyers and sellers of refined petroleum products as summarized by Standard and Poor’s Platts, a Singapore-based market wire service.
Actor Kit Thompson arrested for allegedly mauling, detaining GF actress | Manila Bulletin – Police arrested actor Kit Thompson for allegedly mauling and detaining his girlfriend, an actress, at a hotel in Tagaytay City on Friday, March 18, the Philippine National Police (PNP) confirmed. Brig. Gen. Antonio Yarra, regional director of the Calabarzon Police Regional Office (PRO-4A), said the police rescued Thompson’s girlfriend in their hotel room after the victim managed to call for help through the emergency hotline 911. “Based on the statement of the victim, she had a misunderstanding with her boyfriend that resulted in physical violence. Allegedly, the suspect assaulted and punched the victim on [the] different parts of her body,” Yarra said. The police did not identify Thompson’s girlfriend although social media posts of the actor showed that he has been in a relationship with a budding actress, Ana Jalandoni. They reportedly made public their relationship in December 2021. The victim also allegedly sought help from his relatives and even sent pictures of her injuries through a messaging application.
