IN THIS age of information technology (IT) in which almost everyone has access to internet and social media, privacy has become a thing of the past. It’s a must for every internet user now to take extra measure in not posting on social media their private matters, like nude or lewd photos.
Susan, not her real name, filed a complaint before the PNP’s Anti Cybercrime Group (ACG) 7 against a certain Saleem Khan Afridi, whom she met online and probably not a resident in the country, that she accused of posting her naked and lewd photos on social media.
Of course, I am not blaming this Susan for being naïve and having consented to the request of Afridi to go naked and do lewd acts in front of the camera of her cellular phone while she had a live conversation with Afridi. But I’m sure Susan knows that mobile phones are capable of recording the conversations and photos.
This is a lesson not only for Susan, but also to all the young ones, including the young once, to be extra cautious in using their cellphones that are internet connected. Several bad things have happened and those responsible were already facing cyber crimes cases.
Remember the case of the students who posted on social media what they did to a girl, who was drunk, inside the car? While those kids may have moments of enjoyment in what they did to her and took photos of their unlawful acts to their contentment, they must have totally regretted it now.
Even more pejorative is the effect on one’s personality and morale, like Susan and her family, whose nude and lewd photos were posted on social media, which is open to the public that everyone, who has access to social media, could see and watch it. Worse, Afridi used Susan’s nude photos to blackmail her.
In all probability, this Saleem Khan Afridi is using a fictitious name and he is nowhere to be found in Cebu. All that we could hope, though, is for the police anti-cybercrime unit to track down this Afridi and hale him to court.
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I thought that the issue against the late Clarin Mayor David Navarro would die down after the police hierarchy in Manila named the late mayor as among those that President Rodrigo Duterte mentioned in his list of narco-politicians and the alleged leader of the Alferez robbery gang, who was suspected in the robbery of the retail shops inside JCentre Mall.
The issue on Navarro’s death in the custody of the police has instead broadened after the President ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct the investigation. It was the Abellana Police station that took custody of Navarro.
It’s not surprising though that P/Maj. Eduard Sanchez, Abellana Police Station Chief, was relieved from his post. In fact, he should have been relieved first before P/Col. Gemma Vinluan, the chief of the Cebu City Police Office was transferred, Vinluan and Sanchez are now assigned at the PRO 7-Regional Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit.
Mayor Navarro was gunned down on broad daylight by armed men on board a white van that waylaid the police convoy that escorted the late Navarro to the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office for the filing of the slight physical injuries that a masseur filed.
Some sectors thought that the order of President Duterte for the NBI to investigate the death of Navarro in the hands of the police was only a moro-moro to appease the family of the slain mayor. But the way I look at it, the President was serious on this matter as I believe he would not put to shame the police organization unless he entertains suspicions on how the Clarin mayor was exterminated.