Bam: Opposition senators’ staff accounts planted with ‘LP destab’ mails

The email accounts of the staff of opposition Senators Bam Aquino and Francis Pangilinan have been hacked by still unknown individuals, who were attempting to plant messages containing alleged plans to demolish President Rodrigo Duterte.

At a press conference on Thursday, Aquino showed screenshots of his staff’s hacked Yahoo! account, where they found a draft email with the subject “Leaked Media Plan to Destroy PRRD.”

The content, peppered with grammatical errors, spoke of an alleged plan of the Liberal Party to “destroy” Duterte. The writer of the email was addressing Pangilinan and Senate Minority leader Franklin Drilon.

The email read:

“Dear Senator Drilon and Senator Pangilinan,

Attached is a [sic] alleged leaked LP media plan to destroy PRRD, from a media sources [sic], ‘the plan’ was described jointly by VP Leni, former Pres Aquino, and other senior LP members including senator Drilon, senator Aquino and senator Pangilinan.

For your consideration and proper action.

Thanks.”

Aside from this, Pangilinan’s staff also found in the draft folder an unsent email with the subject “The investigation of DDS.”

Screengrab of the email containing alleged destabilization plans against President Duterte. FROM SEN. BAM AQUINO

Aquino said the email accounts were accessed in the Senate building, using the Senate’s wi-fi network.

“Kaya kung meron pong hacking attempt na nangyari, may kinalaman po ang mga tao na nandito rin sa ating building,” he said.

Aquino said both Senate staff denied composing the emails.

Aquino said that according to IT experts, the hackers could be employing a “false flag attack.”

“Ibig sabihin, magpa-plant ng ganitong klaseng email sa totoong email address tapos e-expose nila kunwari. Ang problema nila nakita namin sila at pinapaimbestigahan na namin sila,” he said.

“Kung ito ‘yung tintukoy ni (Justice) Secretary Aguirre at iba pang kampi sa administration na destabilization plot, sila po ay niloloko ng grupo na nasa likod nito, at nakakatakot na gagamitin ang mga email address ng mga opposition upang gumawa ng kwento na magkakaroon gn destabilization sa bansa,” he said.

Aguirrre, and the rest of the group Citizen National Guard, had been accusing the opposition members they collectively called the “Dilawan” of launching a destabilization plot against the Duterte administration.

The hacking and identity theft incidents have already been reported to the Senate’s Office of the Sergeant-of-arms (OSAA), as well as Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III.

They had also coordinated with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to investigate the incident.

Aquino, along with other minority senators, expressed serious concern over the several hacking incidents.

“I hope the administration is not behind this because this is an illegal act already,” Aquino said.

“These incidents seem to form part of a pattern to pin the political opposition for imaginary destabilization attempts,” he said. /je