Minors in cyber sex dens

“Humans are the only animal who can have sex over the phone.” Dave Letterman 

By Alex P. Vidal

A 16-year-old minor was among those “arrested” by police in a raid on a suspected cyber sex den in Brgy. Sinikway, La Paz in Iloilo City last July 10.

She was with three other adult on-line sex performers, including house owner Helen Delotavo, 57, when members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-Iloilo swooped down on the unit.

Instead of being “arrested” the girl should have been “rescued” and turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

The law exempts minors from culpability in crimes committed by adults especially if they turned out to be the victims themselves.

The girl had no business in that cyber sex den, in the first place. And she was not supposed to be in the police station trying to hide herself from photographers and TV crew who had no idea how old she is. 

In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration, as stated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The use of minors is rampant not only in dangerous workplaces but also in prostitution houses and commission of crimes.

Sometimes they are used as fronts and decoys to confuse authorities, thus they are exposed to extreme danger especially if they are asked to act as couriers of illegal drugs. 

Minors have become the favorite sacrificial lambs of syndicates and the veritable scapegoats of abusive adults.

FORCED

If they are not forced to sell their bodies, they are used as tools or performers in on-line sex chats with foreigners for a fee or what is now known as cyber sex.

The payment is done via Western Union money transfer through middlemen who act as agents for the den.

The agents are the ones who look for clients mostly in the US, Canada and Europe.

Since cyber sex is illegal, there is no guarantee that the minor performers get their fair share of the amount paid by on-line clients.

In most cases, these minor performers are exploited and hoodwinked. The cyber sex den operators and their agents are the ones getting the lion’s share and laughing their way to the banks. 

Sometimes they end up settling for a penny or pocketing only 10 to 20 percent of the actual amount paid by on-line clients.

There were reports that some minors also suffered from maltreatment and other forms of abuse by some cyber sex den operators. 

Aside from being shortchanged of their income, they were also subjected to humiliation by being forced to perform lewd acts in front of male clients salivating for their bodies on-line. 

Police should work closely with the DSWD or invite their representatives in future raids because there are strong possibilities that they would again stumble into more minors in clandestine cyber sex or whore houses in the cities and provinces in Western Visayas.

Meanwhile, a source from Guanco St., City Proper who requested strict anonymity informed us that there are more cyber sex dens in the City Proper, Jaro, Molo, and Mandurriao maintained by pimps who also operate boarding house or room for rent business.

LOCATE

“It’s easy to locate these cyber sex dens,” said our female informant who lives in Bo. Obrero, Lapuz district. ”If you are a woman and you know a pimp in one barangay and you want to apply as on-line sex performer, you know who to approach.”

Some barangay officials are reportedly aware of the existence of cyber sex dens in their areas, “but like in the campaign against drugs, some of them become deaf and mute when it comes to giving of tips to authorities.”  

Many losing internet cafes have reportedly closed shop and dabbled in cyber sex business which is thriving in other places of the country.

“Cyber sex den is easy to operate because all you need are computer sets or laptops and women who are willing to undress and perform sexual acts in front of on-line customers,” added our informant.

World Cup of corruption

“Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.” Thomas Jefferson

By Alex P. Vidal

The next World Cup after the FIFA soccer conclave in Brazil that Filipinos should seriously get involved with is the dismantling of the triangle of graft and corruption in the country.

It’s no longer a Germany versus Argentina finale. It’s the People of the Philippines against the Kingdom of Pork Barrel.

If the reported P137.3 billion worth of taxpayers money released for the doomed Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) of lawmakers and cabinet officials can’t be accounted for; and, worse, can’t be returned to the national treasury as ordered by the Supreme Court, we really need a Mario Gotze to nail our own World Cup goal against the mammoth plunderers led by President Benigno Aquino III and his ilk who control our government today.

The amount is disturbing and sickening: a whooping P137.3 billion!

If its release is unconstitutional, therefore it’s illegal.

THIEF

In our country, a small-time thief who steals a penny will rot in jail if he can’t afford a top-notch lawyer to defend him in court.

If the thief who steals hundreds of millions of pesos is an elected public official, he can dilly dally his case and gets away if he or she is an administration ally. A clear case of double standard of justice.

Since the Supreme Court ruling, we haven’t heard our local officials – city and town mayors, provincial governors and other elected officials down to the barangay level—demand from our corrupt legislators to refund the DAP or pork barrel share they had siphoned from the national treasury. Some of them claimed that DAP funds were spent by lawmakers to finance public works and infrastructure projects in their cities and provinces, thus the money benefited their constituents. Birds of the same feather.

If the funds were sourced from a poisonous tree, they don’t have the moral grounds to stand on. The end does not justify the means.

SITUATION

We are in a situation where at stake is our national pride, reputation and future as a nation. Election by election or year by year, we are being taken for a ride by politicians who promised to end our miseries and give us a good life.

Once they are in power, they connive to plunder the nation and further impoverish the people. Stealing continues to be the favorite passion of our government officials.

We have not graduated from this moral malady ever since we kicked out Marcos in the EDSA revolution. Corruption has eaten up our vast resources and demoralized the people who continue to wallow in abject poverty and live miserably below the survival level.

We badly need a World Cup finale against massive graft and corruption and exorcise this country of demonic and rapacious leaders before they could permanently spell our doomsday.

Mayor Salcedo interceded for Madame Myrna Tupas

“Politics have no relation to morals.”

Niccolo Machiavelli

By Alex P. Vidal

In 2001 when former Iloilo fifth district Rep. Neil Tupas Sr. became governor of Iloilo, we earned the ire of some members of the Tupas clan when we regularly criticized Mrs. Myrna Tupas for her “imposing” presence inside the governor’s office in the old capitol building.

We were informed that future board member and now Iloilo fifth district Rep. Neil “Junjun” Tupas Jr., then a practicing private lawyer in Manila and the eldest son of the governor and Mrs. Tupas, was irked and decided to come home to find out who were his mother’s media critics.

Mrs. Tweety Tupas-Balleza, the family’s lone princess, also went ballistic and was ready to confront her mom’s tormentors with a scythe. Like her mom, Tweety was also one of her father’s executive assistants.

Junjun recommended the filing of a libel case against this writer (it was the congressman who admitted this to me personally several months later when we became friends).

We covered and interviewed Gov. Tupas Sr. on many occasions during his stint in the House of Representatives from 1987 until 1998, and Mrs. Tupas when she was mayor of Barotac Viejo, Iloilo in the early 90s. We were familiar with their character toward the media. They’re not onion-skinned.

MOTHER

It’s normal for Mrs. Tupas, being a mother and a first lady to boot, to be emotional sometimes, but, like her husband, she did not harbor any grudge against journalists. They were aware that as public servants, they couldn’t escape public scrutiny. Constructive criticisms from members of the Fourth Estate were part and parcel of their jobs.

The media criticism went on unmolested. No journalist was hauled to court as what lawyer Junjun had vowed. I couldn’t go near the governor’s office without getting dagger looks from capitol minions who mistook the media’s adversarial role in society for personal enmity.

Weeks later, I received a call from Sara Mayor Neptali “Tali” Salcedo asking me to meet him at a Chinese restaurant inside Atrium Mall.

When I arrived, a smiling Salcedo went straight to the point without much ado: “Noy, indi man pagpatam e si nonoy Myrna ay. Maayo ina sia nga babaye. Maayo ina ang pamilya nila. Gin hambalan ko si Junjun nga si toto Alex abyan ta ina. Migo ko gid ina kag permi ina sa Sara.” (Please slow down on nonoy Myrna. She is a good woman. Their family is great. I already told Junjun that you are a friend and you always visited Sara).

NECESSARY

Salcedo’s appeal was not anymore necessary because Mrs. Tupas had already decided to take a low profile role and her presence inside the governor’s office was not anymore “intimidating”, to say the least. 

But Salcedo’s gesture was earnest and classic. He went out his way like an ordinary peace emissary to intercede for the embattled queen.   

When Junjun ran for congressman in the fifth district of Iloilo against his cousin, Enrique Suplico Jr., in May 2007, he personally requested from me to send at least two reporters to monitor the alleged terrorism and cheating in Sara.  

Junjun and Salcedo were no longer allies. The Tupases and the Salcedos have severed their political ties. Salcedo sided with outgoing congressman Rolex Suplico, who decided to field his older brother, Enrique Jr. against Junjun.

Junjun massacred Enrique Jr. He retained the congressional post when he walloped Rolex in 2010. Junjun miserably lost in Sara but swept Rolex in almost all towns in northern Iloilo. With the Suplicos wiped out, Salcedo became orphaned politically.

RELATIONSHIP

The stormy relationship between the two hitherto political allies developed from bad to worse when Junjun charged Salcedo and three others for alleged overpricing of fuel and lubricants before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Last June 24, the anti-graft court issued the arrest warrants against Salcedo, et al for violation of section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act).

The three Salcedo aides were Municipal Treasurer Edna Pacrim, Municipal Engineer Roel Salcedo and Municipal Accountant Edgardo Beatingo.

The Commission on Audit (COA) reportedly found excess payment of P153,721. The actual cost of fuel consumed was only reportedly P846,279 for 10 different projects.

The respondents also reportedly faced 30 counts of malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents over the doubtful release of P1,834,400 for the labor payroll.

Indeed, in politics there are no permanent friends.

PNP intelligence fails to monitor cyber criminals

“The idea that the police cannot ask questions of the person that knows most about the crime is an infamous decision.”  Edwin Meese III

By Alex P. Vidal

If not for the tips provided by the Manila-based Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) to the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Manila, the 44 Taiwanese nationals arrested in two raids conducted in the districts of Mandurriao and Jaro in Iloilo City last July 9 for cyber money laundering and telecommunications fraud would still be operating until today.

If they were already in Iloilo City as early as March 2014, why is it that their operations for the last four months were never detected?

With their number, Ilonggos must have seen some if not all of them in shopping malls and in other public places.

For sure, they also commuted in cabs and passenger jeeps and mixed with crowd when they went outside. Hence, the PNP’s intelligence radar should have monitored, or at least gathered reports about the existence of these visitors in two prominent subdivisions.

We’re lucky that these cyber criminals were not terrorists: they would have blown a large part of our city to smithereens. They would have murdered a lot of Ilonggos, plant bombs in schools, government buildings and business establishments. Ilonggos would have been caught flat-footed while the city was being attacked.

LONG

Four months is a long period for the terrorists to prepare or launch a sneak or kamikaze attack. We hate to stretch our imagination too far, but in dealing with terrorists, it is always better to be two steps ahead than be sorry and dead.   

The sleuthing job for the activities of these Taiwanese visitors was supposed to be not hard. If they rented a house at Phase 5 Imperial VI Subdivision in Brgy. Guzman-Jesena, Mandurriao and at Ledesco Village in Jaro, the residents would have noticed suspicious body movements because of their number.

It’s very unusual for more than 20 persons—all foreign nationals—to stay in one rented subdivision house for more than one month without rousing the suspicion or curiosity of residents in the neighborhood, especially the village officials.

All 44 suspects may have swapped "duties" in the two houses, which they used as headquarters, every now and then. Different faces mixing in two different houses.

According to one elderly male resident, he suspected something fishy when the Taiwanese visitors would never go out, thus he called the attention of their unnamed village official.

OFFICIAL

Police should investigate why this village official did not alert them earlier. In intelligence report gathering, any tip—serious or just a slip of the tongue—should be considered a breakthrough. No stone should be left unturned during the verification stage.

Supt. Bernard Yang, chief of the PNP’s anti-cyber-crime group based in Camp Crame, Quezon City, told the Ilolio press that the syndicate’s main targets were citizens of mainland China.

They reportedly pretended as representatives of police, insurance companies and courts and duped or coerced gullible individuals and companies mostly in mainland China to deposit large amount of money in a “safe” account or face prosecution for money laundering.

It’s a form of extortion racket.

Despite the delay in information of the syndicate’s presence in our city, we must still laud city police director, Senior Supt. Ruperto Floro, and city police intelligence chief, Supt. Ipil Dueñas and their men, for raiding the house at Ledesco Village where ring leader Chun His Hsu and 19 other fellow Taiwanese nationals were arrested.

We must credit them because no life was lost during the raids, conducted through the search warrants issued by Regional Trial Court, Branch 66 Manila Judge Rainelda Estacaio-Montesa.

Because nobody resisted arrest, police did not have hellish moments to manacle all of them. An excellent job for the raiding team.

We hope all the syndicate members were accounted for and no one managed to slip away. We also hope that police will look into a possibility that the syndicate may have Filipino contacts.

The blaming game; casino hullabaloo

“People spend too much time finding other people to blame, too much energy finding excuses for not being what they are capable of being, and not enough energy putting themselves on the line, growing out of the past, and getting on with their lives.” J. Michael Straczynski

By Alex P. Vidal

Like Brazil’s semifinals shellacking from Germany in the FIFA 2014 World Cup, Ilonggos already anticipated with absolute certainty the floods that hit the city last July 7 due to heavy downpour brought by typhoon “Florita”.

Several days before the Germany vs Brazil showdown, everyone was already talking about the host country’s impending exit from the world’s most prestigious soccer conclave when it was crystal clear that Neymar and Thiago Silva would miss the important match.

Each time there was non-stop monsoon rain in Iloilo City, Ilonggos were expecting the water level to rise rapidly due to our poor drainage system and clogged manholes. Waterways were blocked by garbage and other debris thrown by irresponsible characters.

Aside from the inefficient flood control program from our local government that dates back during the incumbency of post-EDSA OIC mayor Rosa “Tita” Caram, the lack of discipline also did us in.

We are actually not blameless. We also neglected our social responsibility; we were complacent and passive. We move only like a house on fire when calamity is already on our doorsteps. When it comes to blaming others, we are World Cup winners.

STRIKE

When calamity strikes, we resort to endless buck-passing and blaming games. We denounce our public officials and unload unrestrained brickbats at city hall without letup to emphasize our disgust and outrage.

We always expect too much from our authorities. We think they are supermen and wonder women who can solve the crisis overnight. We forget the fundamental factor why these public officials are also hard-pressed to address the gnawing problem that has bedeviled the Ilonggos for more than forty years now.

We lack a comprehensive urban planning. The city’s physical layout and infrastructure is tailor-made for floods. Since time immemorial, we elected politicians, not urban planners and highly skilled engineers. Our squalid electoral system has goaded or programmed our psyche   to vote for glib-tongued punks and tantalizers.

We have parsimoniously avoided or refused to vote for candidates not gifted with eloquence in speaking but are genius in architecture and engineering works. We are suckers to debaters and smart alecks who mesmerize us with empty rhetoric during the campaign period.

And now that these ninny lobcocks are in power and can’t solve the flood problems in one fell swoop, we angrily raise the whimper and resort to trouncing them with unsavory remarks. And we get a high blood pressure.

-o0o-

Some members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod who unraveled a can of worms involving the Casino Filipino’s failure to secure a business permit from the Iloilo City hall since 2012, are now the objects of a smear drive.

Some city hall minions who authorized Casino Filipino’s monthly remittance of P500,000 cash to the city treasurer’s office and allowed the gaming establishment to operate without a business permit, are jittery since no less than the Iloilo Business Club (IBC) has issued a terse statement that no one should be given a special treatment when it comes to securing the mandatory business permit before being allowed to operate a business anywhere in the city.

They have more reason to be panicky now that the local legislative body has hinted that it would conduct a committee hearing on the hullabaloo.

We have emphasized earlier that operators of Casino Filipino can’t invoke the weight of the monthly largess they gave the city government as a bargaining chip so they could be exempted from their obligation to secure a business permit.

The caveat is clear and categorical: the city tax ordinance does not exempt any individual or entity from securing a business permit. There is a whale of difference between a donation (in whatever amount) and a fee paid for the business permit.

THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA

“The thought that so many people get their news from social media really is scary.” Rush Limbaugh

By Alex P. Vidal

A FEW minutes after major streets in Iloilo City were flooded due to monsoon rains brought by typhoon “Florita” last July 7, the whole world immediately learned of the situation via social media.

Photos of flooded downtown streets immediately spread in the Facebook and Twitter, enabling fellow Ilonggos living outside Western Visayas and in other countries to get a clear ringside account of what was going on in the City of Love.

The speed and accuracy of the news transmitted via social media that very moment gave disaster coordinating councils in the region ample time to spruce up their rescue operation teams just in case the situation turns awry.

Forty years ago, photos of floods and other disasters reached the attention of people in other regions only after several weeks when newspapers published them. Horrors of actual damage and deaths were chronicled only on radio reports. Even television networks at that time were not as fully-equipped and as state-of-the-art compared to the technology we have today.

HIGH-TECH

Most high-tech mobile phones now have digital cameras that can transmit photos and videos in a snap of a finger to the global village via the social media.

It was not hard to get the sympathy of people in other countries when super-typhoon “Yolanda” struck in Central Visayas last November 2013 because the destruction was seen all over the world courtesy of the social media, thus foreign relief assistance poured in dizzying speed and volumes.

Access has become smooth and easy to actual scenes of riots, earthquakes, tsunamis, mining disasters, violent police operations, collapse of buildings, dispersal of street rallies, fisticuffs involving parliament members, traffic altercations, ATM robberies, burglaries, sex scandals as these can be conveniently taken from the CCTV and mobile phones and uploaded to YouTube via mini tablets, laptops and desktop units and become parts of household, office and even school entertainments.

The power of social media is limitless and boundless. It can sway public opinion; it can provoke insurrection; it can be used to destroy and promote personalities, clubs, products, religious groups, politicians, athletes, and events.

NETIZENS

Netizens have become the most influential purveyors of real and reel information and reliable liaisons between media and public. In terms of speed and accuracy, the netizens have given the mainstream press a run for their money, so to speak.

Because of social media, Fr. Romeo Obach of Sacred Heart Chapel in Jagobiao, Mandaue City was forced to apologize to the 17-year-old unwed mother he had humiliated during the baptism of the girl’s child last July 6.

More Fr. Obachs all over the country made the same horrendous misbehavior in the past but managed to get away with their demagoguery because their evil acts and verbal abuses were not recorded for all the world to hear and see. Suffice it to say that if the unwed mother’s 12-year-old sister did not record Fr. Obach’s ungodly misconduct, the prelate would not have capitulated.

Social media also gave us front seat view of how Brazil was steamrolled by Germany in one of the host country’s lousiest FIFA World Cup matches in recent memory last July 9, and how fast we learned that San Antonio Spurs defrocked Miami Heat in the 2014 NBA finals last month.

Alex P Vidal Collection of Quotes and Wisdom