2 women busted for blackmail through FB

CEBU, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation arrested two women last Tuesday for alleged extortion and blackmail on social media against a meat processing company.

The suspects were identified as Aldara Piñero and Sistine Piñero both from Barangay Labangon, Cebu City.  

The suspects were nabbed during an entrapment operation Tuesday evening in a mall in Cebu City after two weeks of closely-monitored negotiations, said NBI-7 Director Patricio Bernales Jr. They are now detained at NBI-7 headquarters.

Aldara reportedly posted on her Facebook account on Nov. 16 a video of worms found inside a canned food manufactured by Sunpride Foods, Inc. The post gained 735,000 views.

Henry Dy, Sunpride’s general operations manager, said they reached out to the Piñeros to hear their complaint.

“We sent a message to them asking them if you have complaints with the products, please reach us on these number, customer complaint, open number, customer service number. They did reach out to us. They said that if we could meet, and during that meeting, they made us understand that they want money in exchange,” he said.

The suspects allegedly demanded P735, 000 from the company (or P1 per view) and in return, they would take down the said post.

The suspects denied the said allegation.

“Sila man ang mi-offer sa amoa... Then mura’g nikagat nalang pud mi ba,” Aldara said.

The company sought the help of the NBI who then monitored the negotiations between Sunpride and the suspects that went on for two weeks.

Sunpride negotiated for a lower fee and the suspects agreed to a P200,000 payment. They arranged a meeting in the mall with the representative from Sunpride carrying marked money in the amount agreed on.

Suspects were apprehended when they arrived on the scene.

“The modus operandi being employed by Aldara Mirafuentes Piñero maliciously centered on posting and publishing in her Facebook account a farce, false and fabricated but pernicious allegations in video form designed to slander, defame, malign, and put Sunpride to public shame, ridicule, and erosion of business goodwill and commercial status,” he said.

Dy said that when they saw the video posted by Aldara on Facebook, they wondered why the suspects were only complaining about the worms crawling inside the can and not about the foul smell, when food infested with worms would emit a foul smell.

“All canned meat products go through a sterilization process. For this particular product, ang sterilization process niya is, we subject it to 270 degrees Fahrenheit, that’s about 121 degrees Centigrade for 70 minutes, ensuring that nothing, no microorganisms certainly no worms will live inside the can. So it’s impossible when you open a can and pour it sa plato o sa kaha nga there will be worm crawling out of it. It’s simply not biologically or physically possible,” he added.

The Piñeros will be facing charges of grave threats and online libel before the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office.  These criminal acts are punishable under the Revised Penal Code, and Republic Act No. 10175 otherwise known as the Cyber Crime Law, respectively. (FREEMAN)