App can fake phone messages–Secretary Pangilinan
Presidential Assistant on Food Security Francis ‘Kiko’ Pangilinan. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The cell phone of rice trader Jomerito “Jojo” Soliman on which he claims to have received extortionate messages from National Food Authority (NFA) officials should undergo a forensic examination to determine the authenticity of the messages, presidential assistant on food security Kiko Pangilinan said on Saturday.
“A phone application when operated can make SMS messages appear to have been sent from a given number even if another number was in fact used to send it,” Pangilinan said.
Soliman accused NFA head Arthur Juan and his assistant, lawyer Patricia Galang, of extorting P15 million from him, allegedly in exchange for the dropping of the profiteering charges that the government had filed against the rice trader.
According to the user’s guide of the phone app, a “fake message” could be sent to a particular phone with any name of the perpetrator’s choice made to appear as the sender.
President Benigno Aquino III has ordered the NBI to investigate the allegations of Soliman against the NFA officials.
Juan and Galang have denied the accusation and claimed the text messages purportedly coming from them were fabricated and did not come from their cell phones.
The two said it was Soliman’s way of getting back at them for the reforms they had instituted at the NFA.
“I categorically state that the allegations are not true, are baseless and mere fabrications,” said Juan.
Juan denied owning the cell phone that Soliman said he (Juan) had used to text Soliman and give instructions on where to deposit the money. He also denied knowing the persons into whose accounts Soliman allegedly deposited the P10-million extortion money.
“The alleged cell phone is not my phone and I do not know the persons who were identified as owners of the bank account,” Juan said.
He also explained that he only met Galang on June 30, or 10 days before the alleged exchange of money took place.
Galang also denied the allegations against her and confirmed Juan’s statement that they met for the first time when she became his special assistant on June 30.
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