Philippine envoy in UAE speaks out on rape claims

Philippine envoy in UAE speaks out on rape claims

    DUBAI – Rumours have circulated on social media alleging that the Philippine ambassador to the UAE raped a Filipina worker here. In a statement sent to ExpatMedia.Net, Ambassador Constancio Vingno Jr denied the rumour, blaming a “malicious post” on Facebook for fuelling the controversy. The rumour, which has been circulating online this week, stated that Vingno raped the Filipina who had sought help from the embassy in Abu Dhabi. “I view this as an obvious attempt to discredit my integrity and malign my reputation,” Vingno said. He said that an investigation had ben launched and that “the malicious link could be traced initially to the account Free Ford Everest 2016”, a community page on the social media site. The post has since been deleted from the page, however, versions of the rumour have been posted in several website articles that appeared to be hoaxes. Vingo said that “irresponsible social media users” helped make the malicious posts go viral on social media. He named I am Pinoy, Srkillviral, Attack on Titan Season 2 and Trendingnow5.ga as among the websites that circulated the false report. The Department of Foreign Affairs was working to shut down the malicious websites, he added. ExpatMedia.Net ran a search on Facebook on Thursday (August 4) and found several users who shared the malicious post from at least three websites: Pinoyshowclub, Trendingnow4.ga and Trendingtoday.ml. To watch the purported video, users are prompted to share the story on Facebook in order to verify their age. It is consistent of a phising website, where fraudsters set up a fake website in order to trick users and gain access to an online account. Read Vingno’s full statement: I wish to inform that a malicious post is now doing the rounds on Facebook alleging that the Philippine Ambassador to the UAE has raped a Filipina OFW. The malicious link could be traced initially to the account Free Ford Everest 2016, which posted the link the earliest based on the Embassy’s initial investigation. Once you click the page, you will be directed to the link trendingnow5.ga. No such video will be seen and the word “loading” will just appear. Unfortunately, the link has been posted by other sites like “I am Pinoy”, “Skrillviral”, “Attack on Titan Season 2”, among others, and has been shared by irresponsible social media users. It has been shared 1.2 million times already. I view this as an obvious attempt to discredit my integrity and malign my reputation. I have requested the Department of Foreign Affairs to do its utmost best, using all its available resources, to close down the malicious sites immediately, investigate the matter, and prosecute those responsible. Nobody, especially a member of the Foreign Service Corps, must be subjected to similar attacks in the future.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