Maniolas

A high-ranking communist rebel officer has been arrested in the Philippines, a military official said on Saturday, amid a surge of deadly clashes between soldiers and the insurgents. Hopes of reviving peace talks with the rebels have dimmed since the arrest of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) chairman Benito Tiamzon and his wife, the party’s secretary general Wilma Tiamzon, in March. On Friday police arrested Felix Armodia — a regional secretary of the New People’s Army (NPA), the CPP’s armed wing — in the southern island of Mindanao, the region’s military commander said in a statement. Lieutenant General Ricardo Rainier Cruz said Armodia was arrested after local residents tipped off authorities. “The public is now aware that their role in peace and security in the region is vital to the success of the security operations,” Cruz said. The decades-old Maoist rebellion of the CPP has claimed 30,000 lives, according to estimates by the government, which believes the rebels continue to pose a threat despite the NPA comprising of only 4,000 guerrillas — down from more than 26,000 in the late 1980s. Armodia is accused of masterminding a series of attacks on businesses and farms that did not give in to NPA extortion demands, the general said. There has been an increase in the number of deadly encounters following the arrest of the CPP leaders. Three soldiers were killed in a NPA ambush in the northern Philippines on Thursday, while three NPA guerillas were killed in a clash with troops Read More …

SIMULTANEOUS RAIDS Policemen herd 34 alleged members of an international “sextortion” syndicate into a jeepney following a raid inNaga City of the establishment that fronted as an online perfume store (right photo). It was one of the seven areas where simultaneous raids were conducted by the Philippine National Policewith the assistance of the Interpol,Homeland Security and other multinational forces. PHOTOS BY JUANESCANDOR JR. NAGA CITY, Philippines—They were only selling perfumes and books online and earning commissions from it, protested the 84 workers and managers of Digital Minds, who were arrested when police swooped down on their company on Thursday. But the documentary evidence seized by investigators said otherwise. The evidence included remittances from Western Union and screen grabs of the fake identities allegedly used by the workers in extorting money from victims who were enticed to expose themselves or perform sexual acts in front of a webcam. Senior Supt. Elmo Francis Sarona, chief of staff of the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) at Camp Crame, said the company’s employees used Facebook to scan the Net for possible victims, zeroing in on those who seemed lonesome and away from home. Porn stars   They then set up fake Facebook accounts using images of porn stars as profile pictures to entice their mark to engage in a chat and later in private conversations through Skype that would eventually lead to cybersex sessions. Sarona said the victims were recorded without their knowledge while doing sexual acts before the webcam, and later harassed Read More …

INTERPOL Digital Crime Centre Director Sanjay Virmani, is interviewed by reporters following a news conference Friday, May 2, 2014 at the Philippine National Police Headquarters at suburban Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines. Philippine police, backed by Interpol, have arrested dozens of suspected members of an online extortion syndicate who duped hundreds of victims worldwide into exposing themselves in front of webcams or engaging in lewd chats, including a Scottish teenager who committed suicide after being blackmailed, officials said. AP MANILA, Philippines—The suicide of 17-year-old British mechanic Daniel Perry in July last year led police to an international cybercrime syndicate based in the Philippines, and the eventual arrest of 58 people  allegedly involved in “sextortion,” the Philippine National Police said on Friday. “The Police Scotland investigators conducted a digital forensic examination of Perry’s computers and found that he had been a victim of extortionists,” said Senior Supt. Gilbert Sosa of the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG). “They were able to trace the IP (Internet Protocol) addresses of the online accounts of the syndicate members to the Philippines,” he added. The multination operation, dubbed “Strike Back,” was carried out with the assistance of the US Homeland Security and the police authorities of the United Kingdom, Scotland, Hong Kong and Singapore. In simultaneous raids on Wednesday, agents of the PNP and the International Police (Interpol) swooped down on the syndicate’s “call centers” located in the Bicol region, Laguna and Bulacan provinces and Taguig City, arrested 58 people, and seized more than 250 laptops, Read More …

The Philippines said Friday it plans to give the United States access to five military bases under a deal that could see US forces return to their giant former facility at Subic Bay. An access deal signed last week would allow the US to rotate more aircraft, ships, equipment and troops over the next 10 years at unspecified bases in the territory of the Asian ally strategically facing the South China Sea. The two countries are now in follow-up talks to select the Filipino bases, said defence undersecretary Pio Batino, the chief Filipino negotiator. “Right now, the discussions would be ranging from three to five (Filipino military) bases,” he told reporters. “That’s not the final, but that is the starting discussion point.” The Philippines is offering Fort Magsaysay, a sprawling army base about 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of Manila that regularly hosts annual large-scale US-Filipino military exercises, Batino said. He added “limited portions of Subic” would also be offered, but declined to identify the three other bases under consideration. The Philippines intends to conclude the discussions not later than September 30, Batino added. The deal for increased US access is part of Philippine efforts to boost its weak military capabilities at a time of deep tensions with China over competing claims to parts of the South China Sea. China claims most of the sea, even waters close to the Philippines and other countries in the region. Subic, facing the South China Sea, was the former repair yard of the Read More …

By Julliane Love de JesusINQUIRER.net 2:27 pm | Friday, May 2nd, 2014 FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines – “Sextortion” activities worldwide, including in the Philippines, have become widespread that local and international police are moving to curb if not eliminate them. “(There is) a growing number of sextortion victims in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, United Kingdom and the United States with potential victims in Australia, Korea and Malaysia,” Director General Alan Purisima, Philippine National Police chief, said in a statement Friday. Sanjay Virmani, Interpol Director Crime Centre Director, told INQUIRER.net at the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame that it appeared that “separate groups were working because obviously, it takes low investment to do this”. United Kingdom Ambassador ‎Asif Ahmad said in a press briefing that “sextortion does not respect any nationality… this is a serious and growing problem.” Local and international police officials got together Friday on the invitation of the PNP, which started a crackdown on “sextortion” activities in the country under Operation “Strikeback” on November 2013. The operation has since netted 58 suspects from Taguig City and the provinces of Laguna, Bulacan and Bicol. “Sextortion” is a combination of sex and extortion where a suspect blackmails a victim who has been recorded performing sexual acts online, which include posing nude in front of a webcam. The blackmailer then uses the video or image to extort more sexual favors or money from the victim in exchange for keeping the recording in his possession and not spreading it online. Other countries Read More …