Text Power!

A young Muslim woman texts from her mobile phone at a public plaza in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines. Mobile phones have become an important tool for communication among villagers in mostly Muslim areas in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

Muslim traders accuse cops of extortion in Zamboanga City

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 23, 2010) – Muslim traders selling second-hand cell phones in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines have accused local members of the police elite SWAT team of extortion.

They said the SWAT team seized their phones after they failed to pay seven thousand pesos the policemen were demanding from them every week. “They raided our places and seized all our phones and this came after we failed to pay seven thousand pesos they were asking from us,” one trader told TV 11, a local television station.

Another trader also showed text messages purportedly from one of the officers who warned that police would raid their place if they fail to pay up. “We are seeking help from the government to stop these nefarious activities. We are poor, we want justice,” he said.

There was no immediate statement from the authorities on the allegations, but unscrupulous policemen had been accused in the past of protecting illegal gambling in Zamboanga City. (Mindanao Examiner)

Filipino Brodcaster Fall Victim To Cell Phone Thieves

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 24, 2008) – A Filipino broadcaster himself, became the news, after he reported here that two men who sought his help, stole his cell phones right inside the radio station.

Dennis Lazo, of the Bombo Radyo, told the police that his cell phones were stolen by the duo, who went to the station late Monday to ask for money so they can go back home in Cagayan de Oro City.

Lazo said he discovered his cell phones missing on Tuesday after the two left the radio station. The phones, he said, were inside his drawer. (Romy Bwaga)

Photo: Suspected Cellphone Thieves In Zamboanga City

Suspected thieves are being interrogated at a police station in Zamboanga City after they were arrested for stealing a cell phone in a parked car in the village of San Roque. The phone was later recovered. Some of them had been previously involved in snatching incidents in the village and were spotted breaking into the perimeter fench of the Zamboanga International Airport . (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

We Are Listening...

MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / 21 Jun) – The militant Kilusang Mayo Uno on Thursday criticized a government proposal for telephone and mobile communication firms to record all voice calls and text messages made by their owners in the Philippines.

It said the proposal made by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is an assault on the right to private communication.

It said an NTC order which is supposed to take effect next month requires all telephone and mobile phone companies to keep a log of all land line calls up to two months and four months for mobile phone communications.”

“This one order makes all the laws protecting private communication obsolete. Doctor-patient private communication privileges are thrown down the sewer; lawyer-client confidentiality also becomes a victim of this order and even journalists and their private sources for news are now exposed."

"Intimate communication between husband and wives are open for scrutiny,” Elmer Labog, chairman of the KMU, said in a statement sent to the independent regional newspaper, the Mindanao Examiner.

But the NTC said that only the time, dates and length of calls will be recorded and not actual conversations. The proposal would only be used for billing complaints of consumers.

The Philippine police have praised the proposal, saying, it would help in fighting terrorism and criminal syndicates.

Labog said the NTC proposal would only serve as a legal blanket for eavesdropping and end up targeting government critics and political groups opposed to President Gloria Arroyo’s rule.

“Even before this order, the tapping of phone conversations of private individuals has become a staple for the intelligence units of the military and police and court order have never been a hindrance to them continuing such surveillance,” Labog said.

He said his group is coordinating with consumer advocacy groups like TxtPower on how to fight this order.

“We are also calling on all Filipinos who value their privacy to oppose this,” he said. (Mindanao Examiner)