Chester Cabalza recommends his visitors to please read the original & full text of the case cited. Xie xie!
People vs Balmeros
G.R. No. L-1896
February 16, 1950
Facts:
On 22 September, 1947, in Manila City, the Rafael C. Balmeros committed the crime of estafa through falsification of a security directly by overt acts, by tearing off at the bottom in a cross-wise direction a portion of a genuine 1/8 unit Philippine Charity Sweepstakes ticket and removing the true and real unidentified number of same and substituting and writing in ink at the bottom on the left side of said ticket the figure or number 074000 thus making the said ticket bear the said number 074000, which is a prize-winning number in the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes draw last June 29, 1947, and presenting the said ticket so falsified on said date, September 22, 1947, in the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office for the purpose of exchanging the same for the corresponding cash that said number has won, fraudulently pretending in said office that the said 1/8 unit of a Philippine Charity Sweepstakes ticket is genuine and that he is entitled to the corresponding amount of P359.55 so won by said ticket in the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes draw on said date, June 29, 1947. But he failed to perform all the acts of execution which would have produced the crime of estafa through falsification of a security. As a consequence, Bayani Miller, an employee to whom the said accused presented said ticket in the PCSO, discovered that the said ticket as presented by the said accused was falsified and immediately he called for a policeman who apprehended and arrested him.
From that sentence he appealed to this court, contending (1) that the facts and (2) that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to convict him on a plea of guilty because, being illiterate, he was not assisted by counsel.
Issue:
Whether the accused-appellant committed the crime estafa through falsification under Art. 166 of the RPC?
Held:
The penalty imposed by article 166 for the forging or falsification of "treasury or bank notes or certificates or other obligations and securities" is reclusion temporal in its minimum period and a fine not to exceed P10,000, if the document which has been falsified, counterfeited, or altered is an obligation or security of the United States or of the Philippine Islands. This being a complex crime of attempted estafa through falsification of an obligation or security of the Philippines, the penalty should be imposed in its maximum period in accordance with article 48. Taking into consideration the mitigating circumstance of lack of instruction, and applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, the minimum cannot be lower than prision mayor in its maximum period, which is 10 years and 1 day to 12 years. It results, therefore, that the penalty imposed by the trial court is correct.
The alteration, or even destruction, of a losing sweepstakes ticket could cause no harm to anyone and would not constitute a crime were it not for the attempt to cash the ticket so altered as a prize-winning number. So in the ultimate analysis appellant's real offense was the attempt to commit estafa (punishable with eleven days of arresto menor); but technically and legally he has to suffer for the serious crime of falsification of a government obligation. We realize that the penalty is too severe, considering all the circumstances of the case, but we have no discretion to impose a lower penalty than authorized by law. The exercise of clemency and not in this court.
The court is constrained to affirm the sentence appealed from, with costs against the appellant.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
People vs Geronimo
Chester Cabalza recommends his visitors to please read the original & full text of the case cited. Xie xie!
People vs Geronimo
G.R. No. L-8936
October 23, 1956
Facts:
In an information filed on June 24, 1954 by the provincial Fiscal in the Court of First Instance of Camarines Sur, Appellant Federico Geronimo, together with Mariano P. Balgos alias Bakal alias Tony, alias Tony Collante alias Taoic, alias Mang Pacio, alias Bonny Abundio Romagosa alias David, Jesus Polita alias Rex, Jesus Lava alias Jessie alias NMT, alias Balbas, alias Noli, alias Noli Metangere, alias NKVD, Juan Ocompo alias Cmdr. Bundalian, alias Tagle, Rosendo Manuel alias Cmdr. Sendong, alias Ruiz, Ernesto Herrero alias Cmdr. Ed, alias Rene, alias Eddy, Santiago Rotas alias Cmdr. Jessie, Fernando Principe alias Cmdr. Manding, Alfredo Saguni alias Godo, alias Terry, alias Terpy, Andres Diapera alias Maclang, alias Berto, alias Teny, Lorenzo Saniel alias Wenny, Silvestre Sisno alias Tomo, alias Albert, Teodoro Primavera alias Nestor, Lorenzo Roxas alias Argos, Vivencio Pineda alias Marquez, Pedro Anino alias Fernandez, Mauro Llorera alias Justo, Richard Doe alias Cmdr. Danny and John Doe alias Cmdr. Berion, alias Mayo, alias Cmdr. Paulito and many others, were charged with the complex crime of rebellion with murders, robberies, and kidnapping committed.
In Camarines Sur, the above-named accused being then ranking officers and/or members of, or otherwise affiliated with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the Hukbong Mapagpalaya Ng Bayan (HMB) or otherwise known as the Hukbalahaps (HUKS) the latter being the armed force of said Communist Party of the Philippines (CCP) having come to an agreement and decide to commit the crime of Rebellion, and therefore, conspiring together and confederating among themselves with all of the thirty-one accused.
Issue:
Whether or not accused-appellants committed the crime of rebellion?
Held:
Accused Federico Geronimo first entered a plea of not guilty to the information. When the case was called for trial on October 12, 1954, however, he asked the permission of the court to substitute his original plea with one of guilty, and was allowed to change his plea. On the basis of the plea of guilty, the fiscal recommended that the penalty of life imprisonment be imposed upon the accused, his voluntary plea of guilty being considered as a mitigating circumstance. Geronimo’s counsel, on the other hand, argued that the penalty imposable upon the accused was only prision mayor, for the reason that in his opinion, there is no such complex crime as rebellion with murders, robberies, and kidnapping, because the crimes of murders robberies, and kidnapping being the natural consequences of the crime of rebellion, the crime charged against the accused should be considered only as simple rebellion. On October 18, 1954, the trial court rendered judgment finding the accused guilty of the complex crime of rebellion with murders, robberies, and kidnappings; and giving him the benefit of the mitigating circumstance of voluntary plea of guilty, sentenced him to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua, to pay a fine of P10,000, to indemnify the heirs of the various persons killed, as listed in the information, in the sum of P6,000 each, and to pay the proportionate costs of the proceedings. From this judgment, accused Federico Geronimo appealed, raising the sole question of whether the crime committed by him is the complex crime of rebellion with murders, robberies, and kidnappings, or simple rebellion.
However, the decision appealed from is modified and the accused convicted for the simple (non-complex) crime of rebellion under article 135 of the Revised Penal Code, and also for the crime of murder; and considering the mitigating effect of his plea of guilty, the accused-Appellant Federico Geronimo is hereby sentenced to suffer 8 years of prision mayor and to pay a fine of P10,000, (without subsidiary imprisonment pursuant to article 38 of the Penal Code) for the rebellion; and, as above explained, for the murder, applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, to not less than 10 years and 1 day of prision mayor and not more than 18 years of reclusion temporal; to indemnify the heirs of Policarpio Tibay in the sum of P6,000; and to pay the costs.
People vs Geronimo
G.R. No. L-8936
October 23, 1956
Facts:
In an information filed on June 24, 1954 by the provincial Fiscal in the Court of First Instance of Camarines Sur, Appellant Federico Geronimo, together with Mariano P. Balgos alias Bakal alias Tony, alias Tony Collante alias Taoic, alias Mang Pacio, alias Bonny Abundio Romagosa alias David, Jesus Polita alias Rex, Jesus Lava alias Jessie alias NMT, alias Balbas, alias Noli, alias Noli Metangere, alias NKVD, Juan Ocompo alias Cmdr. Bundalian, alias Tagle, Rosendo Manuel alias Cmdr. Sendong, alias Ruiz, Ernesto Herrero alias Cmdr. Ed, alias Rene, alias Eddy, Santiago Rotas alias Cmdr. Jessie, Fernando Principe alias Cmdr. Manding, Alfredo Saguni alias Godo, alias Terry, alias Terpy, Andres Diapera alias Maclang, alias Berto, alias Teny, Lorenzo Saniel alias Wenny, Silvestre Sisno alias Tomo, alias Albert, Teodoro Primavera alias Nestor, Lorenzo Roxas alias Argos, Vivencio Pineda alias Marquez, Pedro Anino alias Fernandez, Mauro Llorera alias Justo, Richard Doe alias Cmdr. Danny and John Doe alias Cmdr. Berion, alias Mayo, alias Cmdr. Paulito and many others, were charged with the complex crime of rebellion with murders, robberies, and kidnapping committed.
In Camarines Sur, the above-named accused being then ranking officers and/or members of, or otherwise affiliated with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the Hukbong Mapagpalaya Ng Bayan (HMB) or otherwise known as the Hukbalahaps (HUKS) the latter being the armed force of said Communist Party of the Philippines (CCP) having come to an agreement and decide to commit the crime of Rebellion, and therefore, conspiring together and confederating among themselves with all of the thirty-one accused.
Issue:
Whether or not accused-appellants committed the crime of rebellion?
Held:
Accused Federico Geronimo first entered a plea of not guilty to the information. When the case was called for trial on October 12, 1954, however, he asked the permission of the court to substitute his original plea with one of guilty, and was allowed to change his plea. On the basis of the plea of guilty, the fiscal recommended that the penalty of life imprisonment be imposed upon the accused, his voluntary plea of guilty being considered as a mitigating circumstance. Geronimo’s counsel, on the other hand, argued that the penalty imposable upon the accused was only prision mayor, for the reason that in his opinion, there is no such complex crime as rebellion with murders, robberies, and kidnapping, because the crimes of murders robberies, and kidnapping being the natural consequences of the crime of rebellion, the crime charged against the accused should be considered only as simple rebellion. On October 18, 1954, the trial court rendered judgment finding the accused guilty of the complex crime of rebellion with murders, robberies, and kidnappings; and giving him the benefit of the mitigating circumstance of voluntary plea of guilty, sentenced him to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua, to pay a fine of P10,000, to indemnify the heirs of the various persons killed, as listed in the information, in the sum of P6,000 each, and to pay the proportionate costs of the proceedings. From this judgment, accused Federico Geronimo appealed, raising the sole question of whether the crime committed by him is the complex crime of rebellion with murders, robberies, and kidnappings, or simple rebellion.
However, the decision appealed from is modified and the accused convicted for the simple (non-complex) crime of rebellion under article 135 of the Revised Penal Code, and also for the crime of murder; and considering the mitigating effect of his plea of guilty, the accused-Appellant Federico Geronimo is hereby sentenced to suffer 8 years of prision mayor and to pay a fine of P10,000, (without subsidiary imprisonment pursuant to article 38 of the Penal Code) for the rebellion; and, as above explained, for the murder, applying the Indeterminate Sentence Law, to not less than 10 years and 1 day of prision mayor and not more than 18 years of reclusion temporal; to indemnify the heirs of Policarpio Tibay in the sum of P6,000; and to pay the costs.
League Jose vs People
League Jose vs People
Facts:
Accused Jose League was the treasurer general of the party called Sakdalista aimed at obtaining the absolute independence of the Philippines before the end of 1935, that the sakdalistas planned an armed uprising in several provinces, especially Laguna.
On May 2, 1935, the telegraph wires and telephone connecting the municipality of Santa Rosa, Laguna, with Manila and neighboring towns were cut off electric lighting and closed houses, that armed men stood at ways to stop the passage of vehicles, passengers requisitioned and took the weapons they carried, that several hundred of the sakdalistas, armed bands, flags and a variety of weapons, marched in groups to seize municipal building in Santa Rosa and subtract that municipality of obedience to constituted government, that there was a bloody encounter between those sakdalistas and Constabulary were sent to restore order; that this meeting has been killed and wounded, that among the vehicles sakdalistas that tried to stop a car at night the car was Feliciano Gomez attorney who was in the passenger with several members of his family by not stopping the car to the intimation of these sakdalistas was shot, that Jose League, the appellant here, was among those armed individuals attempted to stop the car of lawyer Gomez; that saw and met the appellant, it had been his childhood companion and the driver Damian Harris also saw him this occasion armed a shotgun at a distance of meters from the vehicle dies, that the defendant fired two shots with his gun against the car of Gomez and the missiles were in the body of the same, that among the detainees there was a jitney car ownership of Ricardo Mendoza who acknowledged among people who stopped him the defendant because it was well lit by the light projected from the headlights of the jitney."
Issue:
Whether or not the appellant committed the crime of rebellion or sedition?
Held:
Indeed declare the First Division of the Court of Appeals that the facts in the above cause, which were substantially equivalent to those that were tested in the present, only constitute sedition, by reason that - using their own terms - "Rebellion is a rising that affects a large portion of territory, it is national and not local in character, and has purely political purpose. The disturbance engineered by the appellants meant to spread out later into national proportions, was, as matter of fact, a local disturbance. But the change is justified in the Court's view, because its latest decision which the appellant asks to review, promulgated on 23 October 1939, is more in line with the law that dictated his decision in that case.
Given the proven facts stated by the Court of Appeals, and the reasons that the ruling of the Court, subject to revision, hereby confirm the same and condemn the appellant to pay the costs of prosecution.
Facts:
Accused Jose League was the treasurer general of the party called Sakdalista aimed at obtaining the absolute independence of the Philippines before the end of 1935, that the sakdalistas planned an armed uprising in several provinces, especially Laguna.
On May 2, 1935, the telegraph wires and telephone connecting the municipality of Santa Rosa, Laguna, with Manila and neighboring towns were cut off electric lighting and closed houses, that armed men stood at ways to stop the passage of vehicles, passengers requisitioned and took the weapons they carried, that several hundred of the sakdalistas, armed bands, flags and a variety of weapons, marched in groups to seize municipal building in Santa Rosa and subtract that municipality of obedience to constituted government, that there was a bloody encounter between those sakdalistas and Constabulary were sent to restore order; that this meeting has been killed and wounded, that among the vehicles sakdalistas that tried to stop a car at night the car was Feliciano Gomez attorney who was in the passenger with several members of his family by not stopping the car to the intimation of these sakdalistas was shot, that Jose League, the appellant here, was among those armed individuals attempted to stop the car of lawyer Gomez; that saw and met the appellant, it had been his childhood companion and the driver Damian Harris also saw him this occasion armed a shotgun at a distance of meters from the vehicle dies, that the defendant fired two shots with his gun against the car of Gomez and the missiles were in the body of the same, that among the detainees there was a jitney car ownership of Ricardo Mendoza who acknowledged among people who stopped him the defendant because it was well lit by the light projected from the headlights of the jitney."
Issue:
Whether or not the appellant committed the crime of rebellion or sedition?
Held:
Indeed declare the First Division of the Court of Appeals that the facts in the above cause, which were substantially equivalent to those that were tested in the present, only constitute sedition, by reason that - using their own terms - "Rebellion is a rising that affects a large portion of territory, it is national and not local in character, and has purely political purpose. The disturbance engineered by the appellants meant to spread out later into national proportions, was, as matter of fact, a local disturbance. But the change is justified in the Court's view, because its latest decision which the appellant asks to review, promulgated on 23 October 1939, is more in line with the law that dictated his decision in that case.
Given the proven facts stated by the Court of Appeals, and the reasons that the ruling of the Court, subject to revision, hereby confirm the same and condemn the appellant to pay the costs of prosecution.
Del Rosario vs People
Del Rosario vs People
G.R. No. L-16806
December 22, 1961
Facts:
Sergio del Rosario, Alfonso Araneta and Benedicto del Pilar were convicted by the Court of First Instance of Davao of illegal possession of said forged treasury notes and sentenced to an indeterminate penalty ranging from 8 years and 1 day to 10 years and 1 day of prision mayor, and pay a fine of P5,000, without subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency, as well as a proportionate part of the costs. On appeal, the judgment was affirmed by the Court of Appeals, except insofar as the maximum of said indeterminate penalty which was increased to 10 years, 8 months and 1 day of prision mayor.
Issue:
Whether the accused-appellants are liable for the crime of illegal possession and use of false treasury or bank notes under Art. 168?
Held:
It is clear from the provisions Art 160 and 169 of the Revised Penal Code that the possession of genuine treasury notes of the Philippines any of "the figures, letters, words or signs contained" in which had been erased and or altered, with knowledge of such notes, as they were used by petitioner herein and his co-defendants in the manner adverted to above, is punishable under said Article 168, in relation to Article 166, subdivision (1), of the Revised Penal Code (U.S. vs. Gardner, 3 Phil., 398; U.S. vs. Solito, 36 Phil., 785). Being in accordance with the facts and the law, the decision appealed from is, accordingly, affirmed, with costs against petitioner Sergio del Rosario.
G.R. No. L-16806
December 22, 1961
Facts:
Sergio del Rosario, Alfonso Araneta and Benedicto del Pilar were convicted by the Court of First Instance of Davao of illegal possession of said forged treasury notes and sentenced to an indeterminate penalty ranging from 8 years and 1 day to 10 years and 1 day of prision mayor, and pay a fine of P5,000, without subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency, as well as a proportionate part of the costs. On appeal, the judgment was affirmed by the Court of Appeals, except insofar as the maximum of said indeterminate penalty which was increased to 10 years, 8 months and 1 day of prision mayor.
Issue:
Whether the accused-appellants are liable for the crime of illegal possession and use of false treasury or bank notes under Art. 168?
Held:
It is clear from the provisions Art 160 and 169 of the Revised Penal Code that the possession of genuine treasury notes of the Philippines any of "the figures, letters, words or signs contained" in which had been erased and or altered, with knowledge of such notes, as they were used by petitioner herein and his co-defendants in the manner adverted to above, is punishable under said Article 168, in relation to Article 166, subdivision (1), of the Revised Penal Code (U.S. vs. Gardner, 3 Phil., 398; U.S. vs. Solito, 36 Phil., 785). Being in accordance with the facts and the law, the decision appealed from is, accordingly, affirmed, with costs against petitioner Sergio del Rosario.
People vs Villanueva
People vs Villanueva
G.R. No. L-39047-39052
October 31, 1933
Facts:
On December 7, 1931, there was sent from Honokaa, Hawaii, a postal money order for the sum of P200 in favor of Irene Sanchez, resident of Santa Lucia, Ilocos Sur. On January 14, 1932, there were likewise sent from Watsonville, California, five postal money orders, four of which were for the sum of P200 each and one for the sum of P100, in favor of Feliciano Isidro residence of the same municipality of Santa Lucia, Ilocos Sur. The postal money order in favor of Irene Sanchez was sent her by her son Conde E. Aceta and the ones sent to Feliciano Isidro, by his son Victor.
The defendant Virgilio Villanueva informed them that the money orders had not yet been received, Irene Sanchez and Feliciano Isidro returned to the same office twice to make the same inquiry but they were given the same information that the money orders had not been received. In April of the same year, when Feliciano Isidro went there again, the defendant informed him that he had already received the money orders and that he had appropriated the amount thereof. Consequently, through the intervention of Pedro Callejo, principal of the Santa Lucia Primary School, the defendant signed two documents wherein he admitted having received the money orders, forged the signatures of Irene Sanchez and Feliciano Isidro thereon, collected and appropriated the respective amounts thereof. Furthermore, we find that this admission by the defendant was made voluntarily.
Issue:
Whether the defendant committed the crime of falsification of documents?
Held:
The defendant is guilty of six crimes of malversation in the sum of P200 in each and every one of the cases and in the sum of P100 another case and of six crimes of falsification of public documents in each and every one of the aforesaid cases.
Hence, the accused is sentenced in each and every one of the six aforesaid cases fro the crime of falsification of public documents to eight years and one day of prision mayor and for malversation of public funds to one year, eight months and twenty-one days of prision correccional, the judgment appealed from is hereby affirmed in all other respects, with the costs.
G.R. No. L-39047-39052
October 31, 1933
Facts:
On December 7, 1931, there was sent from Honokaa, Hawaii, a postal money order for the sum of P200 in favor of Irene Sanchez, resident of Santa Lucia, Ilocos Sur. On January 14, 1932, there were likewise sent from Watsonville, California, five postal money orders, four of which were for the sum of P200 each and one for the sum of P100, in favor of Feliciano Isidro residence of the same municipality of Santa Lucia, Ilocos Sur. The postal money order in favor of Irene Sanchez was sent her by her son Conde E. Aceta and the ones sent to Feliciano Isidro, by his son Victor.
The defendant Virgilio Villanueva informed them that the money orders had not yet been received, Irene Sanchez and Feliciano Isidro returned to the same office twice to make the same inquiry but they were given the same information that the money orders had not been received. In April of the same year, when Feliciano Isidro went there again, the defendant informed him that he had already received the money orders and that he had appropriated the amount thereof. Consequently, through the intervention of Pedro Callejo, principal of the Santa Lucia Primary School, the defendant signed two documents wherein he admitted having received the money orders, forged the signatures of Irene Sanchez and Feliciano Isidro thereon, collected and appropriated the respective amounts thereof. Furthermore, we find that this admission by the defendant was made voluntarily.
Issue:
Whether the defendant committed the crime of falsification of documents?
Held:
The defendant is guilty of six crimes of malversation in the sum of P200 in each and every one of the cases and in the sum of P100 another case and of six crimes of falsification of public documents in each and every one of the aforesaid cases.
Hence, the accused is sentenced in each and every one of the six aforesaid cases fro the crime of falsification of public documents to eight years and one day of prision mayor and for malversation of public funds to one year, eight months and twenty-one days of prision correccional, the judgment appealed from is hereby affirmed in all other respects, with the costs.
People vs Barraquia
Chester Cabalza recommends his visitors to please read the original & full text of the case cited. Xie xie!
People vs Barraquia
C.A. No. 50
April 13, 1946
Facts:
Appellant is accused of illegal possession and use of a false bank note of ten-peso denomination. The lower court found him guilty and, appreciating in his favor the mitigating circumstance of lack of instruction, he being illiterate, sentenced him to suffer of one year of prision correccional, to pay a fine of P50, with the corresponding subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency, to suffer the accessory penalties of the law, and to pay the costs.
On March 21, 1941, at about 3:30 p. m., appellant went to the post office of Calamba, Laguna, for the purpose of changing a ten-peso bank note, Exhibit A. The postmaster to the accused that the note was false and placed it near the window, and thereupon sent for a policeman to arrest the accused. The accused waited for the policeman to arrive at the post office. He admitted to the policeman that the note was his, and the policeman took him to the municipal building where he was investigated by the chief of police. At the investigation, accused explained that the bank note was passed to him in a game of cara y cruz in the barrio of Mamatid, Cabuyao, Laguna, the night previous.
Issue:
Whether the evidence presented is valid enough to prosecute the illiterate accused of the crime charged?
Held:
Upon his own testimony accused appears to be an illiterate laborer, who does not know how to read or write. He testified that he happened to know that the bill in question was a counterfeit only when the postmaster of Calamba informed him so, but for himself he cannot distinguish a counterfeit note from a genuine one; and that if he had known that Exhibit A was a counterfeit, he would not have gone to the post office of Calamba to have it changed.
Upon the evidence in this case, the court finds enough ground to declare appellant guilty of the crime charged in the information. The only evidence presented by the prosecution to the effect that the bank note in question was a counterfeit is the testimony of cashier Vicente C. Reventar of the provincial treasury of Laguna who stated that the printing of the bill is somewhat blurred and the paper is very oily. The court does not believe that these two circumstances may be considered as enough basis for declaring the bill in question as falsified. The fact that the printing is somewhat blurred may be attributed to the overuse of an old printed matter. That the bank bill is oily is not an evidence of a counterfeit bill, because any bank note may become oily by impregnation with an oily liquid. According to the decision of the lower court, the bill Exhibit A bears No. D462691D. No evidence has been presented that this number does not check with the genuine one issued with the same number. There is no evidence as to the kind of bank note Exhibit A was, and we are not in a position to determine what it was or to determine that the two circumstances mentioned by witness Reventar may really be considered evidence of falsification, because Exhibit A has disappeared and could not be submitted to us for our examination.
The facts brought out in this case do not prove conclusively either that the lost Exhibit A is a counterfeited bank note or that, if it really is, appellant had knowledge of the fact before the postmaster of Calamba called a policeman to put him under custody. For all the foregoing, the appellant is acquitted of the crime charged in the information, with costs de oficio.
People vs Barraquia
C.A. No. 50
April 13, 1946
Facts:
Appellant is accused of illegal possession and use of a false bank note of ten-peso denomination. The lower court found him guilty and, appreciating in his favor the mitigating circumstance of lack of instruction, he being illiterate, sentenced him to suffer of one year of prision correccional, to pay a fine of P50, with the corresponding subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency, to suffer the accessory penalties of the law, and to pay the costs.
On March 21, 1941, at about 3:30 p. m., appellant went to the post office of Calamba, Laguna, for the purpose of changing a ten-peso bank note, Exhibit A. The postmaster to the accused that the note was false and placed it near the window, and thereupon sent for a policeman to arrest the accused. The accused waited for the policeman to arrive at the post office. He admitted to the policeman that the note was his, and the policeman took him to the municipal building where he was investigated by the chief of police. At the investigation, accused explained that the bank note was passed to him in a game of cara y cruz in the barrio of Mamatid, Cabuyao, Laguna, the night previous.
Issue:
Whether the evidence presented is valid enough to prosecute the illiterate accused of the crime charged?
Held:
Upon his own testimony accused appears to be an illiterate laborer, who does not know how to read or write. He testified that he happened to know that the bill in question was a counterfeit only when the postmaster of Calamba informed him so, but for himself he cannot distinguish a counterfeit note from a genuine one; and that if he had known that Exhibit A was a counterfeit, he would not have gone to the post office of Calamba to have it changed.
Upon the evidence in this case, the court finds enough ground to declare appellant guilty of the crime charged in the information. The only evidence presented by the prosecution to the effect that the bank note in question was a counterfeit is the testimony of cashier Vicente C. Reventar of the provincial treasury of Laguna who stated that the printing of the bill is somewhat blurred and the paper is very oily. The court does not believe that these two circumstances may be considered as enough basis for declaring the bill in question as falsified. The fact that the printing is somewhat blurred may be attributed to the overuse of an old printed matter. That the bank bill is oily is not an evidence of a counterfeit bill, because any bank note may become oily by impregnation with an oily liquid. According to the decision of the lower court, the bill Exhibit A bears No. D462691D. No evidence has been presented that this number does not check with the genuine one issued with the same number. There is no evidence as to the kind of bank note Exhibit A was, and we are not in a position to determine what it was or to determine that the two circumstances mentioned by witness Reventar may really be considered evidence of falsification, because Exhibit A has disappeared and could not be submitted to us for our examination.
The facts brought out in this case do not prove conclusively either that the lost Exhibit A is a counterfeited bank note or that, if it really is, appellant had knowledge of the fact before the postmaster of Calamba called a policeman to put him under custody. For all the foregoing, the appellant is acquitted of the crime charged in the information, with costs de oficio.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Netscape Terror: Are There Real Cyberterrorists?
Copyright © 2010 by Chester B. Cabalza. All Rights Reserved.
Everyday I spend hours on the net to check my emails, update facebook and twitter, roam in online chat rooms, and google interesting websites in a free-flowing Information Superhighway. No wonder I consider myself a net surfer. Eventhough, my fingers are already numbed clicking the mouse or typing words and my eyes are somnolent reading gazillion texts on the Internet. As I come into contact with the realm of cyberzone, likewise I suppose my world decongests and shrinks, into a smaller global village. I feel empowered because I can conquer a wide-reaching, universal boardroom that nobody knows my real identity. As a New Yorker caricature by Peter Steiner spreads its message, “on the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog”.
A few months back, I received a forwarded email alerting all concerned cyber users not to open any message with an attached file called “invitation”, regardless of who sent it. The email attack is a politically motivated missive perceived to be the ‘most destructive virus’ ever announced by CNN after it was discovered by McAfee and classified by Microsoft. The letter contains subversive contents with uploaded pictures of Osama bin Laden hanged, but once opened, it can abruptly destroy and disrupt one’s computer that you’ll not be able to fix it!
What does it all mean? So powerful message that implies precaution as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) continue to invade and pervade human life; the risks for cyberterrorism, without doubt, will continue to grow. Certainly the use of technology in cyberterrorists attacks is plausible. Our very global way of life relies on the secure and safe operations of critical systems that depend on cyberspace. In other words, as a net surfer, who frequently crosses the threshold of ‘virtual global reality’ as part of his daily routine, should also be vigilant by becoming a target of cyberterrorists.
In fact, I only came to know about the larger impact of terrorism when terrorists assaulted the World Trade Center in New York in September 2001 which tells me that nobody is safe now from the time when the lone superpower in the world suffered vulnerability with such impulsive yet devious attacks.
That fateful day, cyberterrorists have proven to be adroit of mining data by learning about the schedules and locations of targets through the Internet such as transportation facilities and airports and also public buildings. The infamy reminded me of the Internet’s susceptibility underneath the spell of the devil advocates; shriveled in a ‘virtual global community’ I use to chat with, consult with, and make friends with. Until now, it is stabbing me with immense paranoia because nowadays cyberterrorists wouldn’t cease and mind attacking civilians via the confines of cyberzones for direct mischievous instruments of bloodshed.
My ignorance condemns my sanity that I often assume terrorism is treated as a recent concept. But truly it’s not. The conception of “terrere” or terrorism was first used during the French Revolution of the 1790s according to few literatures. In the Philippines, there are some historical accounts as early as 1865 that the Sultan of Sulu gathered his supporters and Muslims in once a glorious sultanate adhered to juramentado, tantamount to Muslim jihad which in Western understanding they would call the same practice as formalized military suicide based from my readings.
But what makes it divergent before than now is that perhaps today, technology has improved a terrorist ability to infuse fear and shock a society. Yet it couldn’t be denied that the new threat bears a little resemblance to familiar disruptions by hackers for viruses and worms. For as long as there are adequate resources to launch a cyber attack that are easy to access; at the end of the day, an ignorant cyber user may not even know that the attack has taken place until only sometime after it was launched.
Nonetheless, my perceptive understanding of terrorism grounds from my morsel expertise yet voracious reading on cyberterrorism. That if not watchful, may truthfully endanger and threaten my existence in the cyberspace; since terrorist organizations and their supporters have now conquered dominion of the Internet I almost enter everyday. These sophisticated electronic communications become the cyberterrorists theatrical stage to engage in a calculated crusade and at the same time use it for indoctrination, recruitment, fund raising, and launching a worldwide campaign of fear.
By all means, cyberterrorism is the unlawful attacks against computers, networks, and the information stored therein when done to intimidate or coerce a government or its people in furtherance of political or social objectives.
Believe me, I for one have been addicted and enslaved by these cutting-edged technologies and the Internet. It is a fact that today, we are all functioning in a world fundamentally characterized by objects in motion. There is a tremendous mobility brought about by globalization where immense flood of capital, ideas, labor, profits and technology are rapidly moving across the four bounds of the earth. The explosive growth of cyber cafés in the so-called new economy and wisdom market affirm the net’s comfy uses and trendy functions that permit dissemination of any kind of data through images, music, speech, text and video. It surmounts distance and pays scant regard to territorial boundaries. But sad to say, with cheap accessibility for all, cyberterrorists can gauge the opportunities to wave and secure publicity. Their superior aptitude for technologies offers them advanced prospects to shape and control the content of their websites and manipulate the images and texts of their foes.
The appalling side of the Internet is the quiet emergence of hundreds of uncensored websites that cling to radicalism, plain old untruths, and rampant disinformation that entice cyber users to join cyberterrorists in their war. Recruiters exploit the medium of interactive Internet technology to wander in online chat rooms, searching for fellow brethren to sympathize with their cause and ideologies. Knowing the strengths of any terrorist groups, especially in their grand mission to instill fright to sundry citizens and cyber users. It could also cause economic mess for countries that turn against them. As seen by some analysts, since the Information Superhighway trespasses a country’s sovereignty, given that there is little regulation on the Internet; cyber attackers can mete out wide-scale reparations, malicious and damaging softwares that ultimately would create havoc without fear of prosecution.
Beyond all these perks for cyber attackers in the countenance of Internet’s viability to merge together comrades in brotherhood - be it ethnic, political and religious in nature; it has also created a new forum for worldwide information warfare and a novel force in transforming today’s geopolitics in a globalizing transborder universe. Without much ado, cyberterrorists will grab every opportunities and issues to foster their ideals in the net’s increasing bastion of freedom of expression that will resonate effectively with their own fellows and supporters.
The consequence of ‘virtual global community’ influx bridged by the supreme netscape paves a way for every cyber users to empathize with their own roots and cultures. For instance, the Internet would help coagulate the revival of Muslim identity and solidarity with Muslims in one country much able to see and commiserate with the struggles of their brethren in another country. With the Internet’s free flowing information, it would certainly indoctrinate a curious brethren who has access to a jihadi website. At the end, it would be graceful gain for a terrorist as he espouses the objectives of the group; especially if the group he wants to belong to suffers extreme profiling and marginalization against the ‘Others’. Indeed, this ‘virtual global community’ has an appeal to younger generations who may have entrée and exposure to seditious information through the Internet, cable or satellite TV where images and texts are potent sources for propaganda and wiles to spread out terror. This gives them various options to post and spread prisms of terrorism.
Precisely, in this age where ideology or ideas have a very powerful way of shaping a person’s cognition, facilitating the person to adopt pseudo-personality. The terrorist groups exert authoritative persuasion over their members. The sense of belonging and exclusivity diminishes the individual’s personal and moral judgment. This is the power that can make violence against the perceived enemy not just acceptable but necessary. As the new ambassadors of political and religious fundamentalism, they can stimulate or carry out attacks by summoning and undermining loose policies of the “Others” that don’t subscribe to their cause at the expense of their own beliefs and welfare. Their apparent angst are either posted in jihadi websites or disseminated through CD-ROMs.
The fluidity of cyberspace absorbed by the ‘virtual global community’ could succumb further tension and deepen international debate due to escalating schism and difference among conflicting groups. For instance in Southeast Asia alone, the mainstreaming of print, audio-visual, and especially the Internet have now emerged as the prime medium to circulate jihadi ideologies and as tools to recruit new sympathizers from Songkla in Thailand to Sulu in the Philippines and from Sabah in Malaysia to Sulawesi in Indonesia.
The fact that terrorists may employ IT as a valuable tool does not robotically mean that the entire information infrastructure will be the next target. Their initial approach is to comprehensively use and familiarize the technology as an essential stride before deciding to turn against such targets. In effect, once they fully learned and acquired the technology, they will exploit it as a weapon of mass destruction in its pursuit to ebb fear to anyone.
It wouldn’t be surprising, if by all means government official websites usually hosted by sometimes sloppy private industry Internet Service Providers (ISP) could increase espionage from cyberterrorists and cause massive electronic attacks due to lack of security mechanisms on computer systems. Besides violations can occur when an unauthorized user illegally accesses network computers that are forbidden to access. There’s a leeway that cyberterrorists could scythe critical and vital military, commercial or monetary institutions from remote locations to disrupt the free world’s defense and communications systems. Possibly, attackers could hack into computer systems for information gathering or data altering, sabotage, and installing malicious codes. These malicious codes may be distorted in the form of Trojans, worms, and viruses. There are also Deadly Distributed Denial of Service (DdoS) attacks which employ “zombie” machines that are controlled by a master server. It has the ability for taking down entire networks. Meanwhile, cyberterrorists could also apply information hiding by means of stegonography where one can simply take one piece of information and hides it with another picture or document. This well-planned strategy could cripple infrastructures and bug down key government sites and services. Cyberterrorists have the clout to destroy and disrupt critical infrastructures in split seconds. With just the hit of a keystroke, one can send a fatal blow by simply sitting in his armchair, from thousand of miles away. That could wreak greater threats to a wider gamut of annihilation from a mere nuisance to larger national security problem.
Therefore, in reality there exist scores of cyberterrorists that I would like to call them as cyber bugs because they keep on distracting the stream of Information Superhighway. There are also fears escalating among experts that countries may be progressively vulnerable to major attack by hackers and cyber bugs. They consider that both civil and military institutions, as well as key companies, are in danger of a cyber attack – possibly as a ground for terrorist attack on the country or simply as a challenge for expert young computer users. They need to be halted; albeit their mushrooming websites couldn’t be prohibited because with all due respect, they are accorded with all the rights and privileges to engage in the cyberspace; in whatever means there is. So, the initial course to silently crash these cyber bugs is to write laws on terrorism and give teeth to decrees that would cover cyberterrorism.
I exactly remember the case of a Filipino cyber geek who created the famed “I Love You” bug that rapidly troubled the fall of London stock market when it was accidentally launched and drove controversies worldwide. At that time, there was no available Philippine criminal cyber law to prosecute the accused. But that circumstance ignited the brilliant minds of our lawmakers to consider writing laws on cyber crimes.
The problem with jurisdictional and lack of laws in some countries may impede investigations. But once a government, and also a regional bloc, e.g. the ASEAN, enacts agreements in countering terrorism; the task of enforcing rules would legitimize the prosecution and extradition of criminals vis a vis terrorists in a current deterritorialized community. Cyberterrorism is now being fought at the international level and recently the UN formed Counter Terrorism Committee responsible for coordinating cyberterrorism-related response and information exchange. Meanwhile, our prosecutors and lawyers need not only learn cyberterrorism laws but they must also be trained conscientiously to ride with the use of fast-changing fads of technology and the many surprises of the Internet.
In a flat world as described by Thomas Friedman; in his metaphor to imply the “playing field is flat” in a competitive sense; blazes up the dissertation that local connects with global vis a vis global affects local will certainly influence the internationalization and mainstreaming of terrorism blended with political and religious zeal based from robust networking empowered by the revolution of the ICT.
In due time, there would be vacancies for professional cyber cops and cyber computer forensic experts to examine crimes of cyberterrorists. I would readily imagine that one day I would meet real cyber cops. To ease the tension and maybe in trying hard to be droll; what I figure in my mind's eye are policemen in full Robocop gears crashing terrorists with their high-caliber gadgets and cyber apparatus. But that would be farcical.
Comes the computer forensics, i.e., the acquisition, preservation, analysis and presentation of computer-related evidence. In other words, using an established and accepted process to identify, preserve and recover digital information critical to an investigator. Furthermore, computer forensics is also considered to be the use of computer technology to resolve an allegation or issue.
Law enforcers and investigators should be equipped with novel gadgets and forensic cyber equipment. Although, my idea does not only suggests that they should be supplied with sophisticated ala James Bond gizmos, e.g., are signing pens and Swiss knives with hidden USB that can store terabytes files or watches with hidden Internet cords. More importantly, forensic cyber experts should exude intelligence and must be methodological. They must posses patience for smaller details that distinguishes it from mere investigation because cyber bugs will always do their best to outpace them. After all, cyberterrorists deem they are smarter and technologically savvy.
In the phase of a trend-setting world encircled by issues of globalization and terrorism, countries and regional groupings must engage on tight cyber security agreements aimed at ensuring cooperation. Firstly, to undertake serious collection and analysis of cyberterrorism related information. Secondly, to minimize duplication of efforts since cyberterrorism is multi-jurisdictional and very few treatise or conventions address computer crimes across borders.
I believe that proper handling of terrorism related information through the use of various cyber investigative techniques is very significant to help eliminate or reduce such threats. Sustained training programs for law enforcers and investigators on cyberterrorism will be helpful in confronting such threats in our country and the world where the Information Superhighway transcends territorial boundaries.
By all means, all ordinary cyber users must be aware of this; not only as a precaution but a responsibility that we must carry on. To ease our fears when cyberterrorists launch a sudden and deadly cyber attack. After all, the essence of all this transgression and crimes by cyberterrorists is the use of violence encrusted with political hypocrisy aimed to ebb fear among millions of cyber users and civilians.
Everyday I spend hours on the net to check my emails, update facebook and twitter, roam in online chat rooms, and google interesting websites in a free-flowing Information Superhighway. No wonder I consider myself a net surfer. Eventhough, my fingers are already numbed clicking the mouse or typing words and my eyes are somnolent reading gazillion texts on the Internet. As I come into contact with the realm of cyberzone, likewise I suppose my world decongests and shrinks, into a smaller global village. I feel empowered because I can conquer a wide-reaching, universal boardroom that nobody knows my real identity. As a New Yorker caricature by Peter Steiner spreads its message, “on the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog”.
A few months back, I received a forwarded email alerting all concerned cyber users not to open any message with an attached file called “invitation”, regardless of who sent it. The email attack is a politically motivated missive perceived to be the ‘most destructive virus’ ever announced by CNN after it was discovered by McAfee and classified by Microsoft. The letter contains subversive contents with uploaded pictures of Osama bin Laden hanged, but once opened, it can abruptly destroy and disrupt one’s computer that you’ll not be able to fix it!
What does it all mean? So powerful message that implies precaution as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) continue to invade and pervade human life; the risks for cyberterrorism, without doubt, will continue to grow. Certainly the use of technology in cyberterrorists attacks is plausible. Our very global way of life relies on the secure and safe operations of critical systems that depend on cyberspace. In other words, as a net surfer, who frequently crosses the threshold of ‘virtual global reality’ as part of his daily routine, should also be vigilant by becoming a target of cyberterrorists.
In fact, I only came to know about the larger impact of terrorism when terrorists assaulted the World Trade Center in New York in September 2001 which tells me that nobody is safe now from the time when the lone superpower in the world suffered vulnerability with such impulsive yet devious attacks.
That fateful day, cyberterrorists have proven to be adroit of mining data by learning about the schedules and locations of targets through the Internet such as transportation facilities and airports and also public buildings. The infamy reminded me of the Internet’s susceptibility underneath the spell of the devil advocates; shriveled in a ‘virtual global community’ I use to chat with, consult with, and make friends with. Until now, it is stabbing me with immense paranoia because nowadays cyberterrorists wouldn’t cease and mind attacking civilians via the confines of cyberzones for direct mischievous instruments of bloodshed.
My ignorance condemns my sanity that I often assume terrorism is treated as a recent concept. But truly it’s not. The conception of “terrere” or terrorism was first used during the French Revolution of the 1790s according to few literatures. In the Philippines, there are some historical accounts as early as 1865 that the Sultan of Sulu gathered his supporters and Muslims in once a glorious sultanate adhered to juramentado, tantamount to Muslim jihad which in Western understanding they would call the same practice as formalized military suicide based from my readings.
But what makes it divergent before than now is that perhaps today, technology has improved a terrorist ability to infuse fear and shock a society. Yet it couldn’t be denied that the new threat bears a little resemblance to familiar disruptions by hackers for viruses and worms. For as long as there are adequate resources to launch a cyber attack that are easy to access; at the end of the day, an ignorant cyber user may not even know that the attack has taken place until only sometime after it was launched.
Nonetheless, my perceptive understanding of terrorism grounds from my morsel expertise yet voracious reading on cyberterrorism. That if not watchful, may truthfully endanger and threaten my existence in the cyberspace; since terrorist organizations and their supporters have now conquered dominion of the Internet I almost enter everyday. These sophisticated electronic communications become the cyberterrorists theatrical stage to engage in a calculated crusade and at the same time use it for indoctrination, recruitment, fund raising, and launching a worldwide campaign of fear.
By all means, cyberterrorism is the unlawful attacks against computers, networks, and the information stored therein when done to intimidate or coerce a government or its people in furtherance of political or social objectives.
Believe me, I for one have been addicted and enslaved by these cutting-edged technologies and the Internet. It is a fact that today, we are all functioning in a world fundamentally characterized by objects in motion. There is a tremendous mobility brought about by globalization where immense flood of capital, ideas, labor, profits and technology are rapidly moving across the four bounds of the earth. The explosive growth of cyber cafés in the so-called new economy and wisdom market affirm the net’s comfy uses and trendy functions that permit dissemination of any kind of data through images, music, speech, text and video. It surmounts distance and pays scant regard to territorial boundaries. But sad to say, with cheap accessibility for all, cyberterrorists can gauge the opportunities to wave and secure publicity. Their superior aptitude for technologies offers them advanced prospects to shape and control the content of their websites and manipulate the images and texts of their foes.
The appalling side of the Internet is the quiet emergence of hundreds of uncensored websites that cling to radicalism, plain old untruths, and rampant disinformation that entice cyber users to join cyberterrorists in their war. Recruiters exploit the medium of interactive Internet technology to wander in online chat rooms, searching for fellow brethren to sympathize with their cause and ideologies. Knowing the strengths of any terrorist groups, especially in their grand mission to instill fright to sundry citizens and cyber users. It could also cause economic mess for countries that turn against them. As seen by some analysts, since the Information Superhighway trespasses a country’s sovereignty, given that there is little regulation on the Internet; cyber attackers can mete out wide-scale reparations, malicious and damaging softwares that ultimately would create havoc without fear of prosecution.
Beyond all these perks for cyber attackers in the countenance of Internet’s viability to merge together comrades in brotherhood - be it ethnic, political and religious in nature; it has also created a new forum for worldwide information warfare and a novel force in transforming today’s geopolitics in a globalizing transborder universe. Without much ado, cyberterrorists will grab every opportunities and issues to foster their ideals in the net’s increasing bastion of freedom of expression that will resonate effectively with their own fellows and supporters.
The consequence of ‘virtual global community’ influx bridged by the supreme netscape paves a way for every cyber users to empathize with their own roots and cultures. For instance, the Internet would help coagulate the revival of Muslim identity and solidarity with Muslims in one country much able to see and commiserate with the struggles of their brethren in another country. With the Internet’s free flowing information, it would certainly indoctrinate a curious brethren who has access to a jihadi website. At the end, it would be graceful gain for a terrorist as he espouses the objectives of the group; especially if the group he wants to belong to suffers extreme profiling and marginalization against the ‘Others’. Indeed, this ‘virtual global community’ has an appeal to younger generations who may have entrée and exposure to seditious information through the Internet, cable or satellite TV where images and texts are potent sources for propaganda and wiles to spread out terror. This gives them various options to post and spread prisms of terrorism.
Precisely, in this age where ideology or ideas have a very powerful way of shaping a person’s cognition, facilitating the person to adopt pseudo-personality. The terrorist groups exert authoritative persuasion over their members. The sense of belonging and exclusivity diminishes the individual’s personal and moral judgment. This is the power that can make violence against the perceived enemy not just acceptable but necessary. As the new ambassadors of political and religious fundamentalism, they can stimulate or carry out attacks by summoning and undermining loose policies of the “Others” that don’t subscribe to their cause at the expense of their own beliefs and welfare. Their apparent angst are either posted in jihadi websites or disseminated through CD-ROMs.
The fluidity of cyberspace absorbed by the ‘virtual global community’ could succumb further tension and deepen international debate due to escalating schism and difference among conflicting groups. For instance in Southeast Asia alone, the mainstreaming of print, audio-visual, and especially the Internet have now emerged as the prime medium to circulate jihadi ideologies and as tools to recruit new sympathizers from Songkla in Thailand to Sulu in the Philippines and from Sabah in Malaysia to Sulawesi in Indonesia.
The fact that terrorists may employ IT as a valuable tool does not robotically mean that the entire information infrastructure will be the next target. Their initial approach is to comprehensively use and familiarize the technology as an essential stride before deciding to turn against such targets. In effect, once they fully learned and acquired the technology, they will exploit it as a weapon of mass destruction in its pursuit to ebb fear to anyone.
It wouldn’t be surprising, if by all means government official websites usually hosted by sometimes sloppy private industry Internet Service Providers (ISP) could increase espionage from cyberterrorists and cause massive electronic attacks due to lack of security mechanisms on computer systems. Besides violations can occur when an unauthorized user illegally accesses network computers that are forbidden to access. There’s a leeway that cyberterrorists could scythe critical and vital military, commercial or monetary institutions from remote locations to disrupt the free world’s defense and communications systems. Possibly, attackers could hack into computer systems for information gathering or data altering, sabotage, and installing malicious codes. These malicious codes may be distorted in the form of Trojans, worms, and viruses. There are also Deadly Distributed Denial of Service (DdoS) attacks which employ “zombie” machines that are controlled by a master server. It has the ability for taking down entire networks. Meanwhile, cyberterrorists could also apply information hiding by means of stegonography where one can simply take one piece of information and hides it with another picture or document. This well-planned strategy could cripple infrastructures and bug down key government sites and services. Cyberterrorists have the clout to destroy and disrupt critical infrastructures in split seconds. With just the hit of a keystroke, one can send a fatal blow by simply sitting in his armchair, from thousand of miles away. That could wreak greater threats to a wider gamut of annihilation from a mere nuisance to larger national security problem.
Therefore, in reality there exist scores of cyberterrorists that I would like to call them as cyber bugs because they keep on distracting the stream of Information Superhighway. There are also fears escalating among experts that countries may be progressively vulnerable to major attack by hackers and cyber bugs. They consider that both civil and military institutions, as well as key companies, are in danger of a cyber attack – possibly as a ground for terrorist attack on the country or simply as a challenge for expert young computer users. They need to be halted; albeit their mushrooming websites couldn’t be prohibited because with all due respect, they are accorded with all the rights and privileges to engage in the cyberspace; in whatever means there is. So, the initial course to silently crash these cyber bugs is to write laws on terrorism and give teeth to decrees that would cover cyberterrorism.
I exactly remember the case of a Filipino cyber geek who created the famed “I Love You” bug that rapidly troubled the fall of London stock market when it was accidentally launched and drove controversies worldwide. At that time, there was no available Philippine criminal cyber law to prosecute the accused. But that circumstance ignited the brilliant minds of our lawmakers to consider writing laws on cyber crimes.
The problem with jurisdictional and lack of laws in some countries may impede investigations. But once a government, and also a regional bloc, e.g. the ASEAN, enacts agreements in countering terrorism; the task of enforcing rules would legitimize the prosecution and extradition of criminals vis a vis terrorists in a current deterritorialized community. Cyberterrorism is now being fought at the international level and recently the UN formed Counter Terrorism Committee responsible for coordinating cyberterrorism-related response and information exchange. Meanwhile, our prosecutors and lawyers need not only learn cyberterrorism laws but they must also be trained conscientiously to ride with the use of fast-changing fads of technology and the many surprises of the Internet.
In a flat world as described by Thomas Friedman; in his metaphor to imply the “playing field is flat” in a competitive sense; blazes up the dissertation that local connects with global vis a vis global affects local will certainly influence the internationalization and mainstreaming of terrorism blended with political and religious zeal based from robust networking empowered by the revolution of the ICT.
In due time, there would be vacancies for professional cyber cops and cyber computer forensic experts to examine crimes of cyberterrorists. I would readily imagine that one day I would meet real cyber cops. To ease the tension and maybe in trying hard to be droll; what I figure in my mind's eye are policemen in full Robocop gears crashing terrorists with their high-caliber gadgets and cyber apparatus. But that would be farcical.
Comes the computer forensics, i.e., the acquisition, preservation, analysis and presentation of computer-related evidence. In other words, using an established and accepted process to identify, preserve and recover digital information critical to an investigator. Furthermore, computer forensics is also considered to be the use of computer technology to resolve an allegation or issue.
Law enforcers and investigators should be equipped with novel gadgets and forensic cyber equipment. Although, my idea does not only suggests that they should be supplied with sophisticated ala James Bond gizmos, e.g., are signing pens and Swiss knives with hidden USB that can store terabytes files or watches with hidden Internet cords. More importantly, forensic cyber experts should exude intelligence and must be methodological. They must posses patience for smaller details that distinguishes it from mere investigation because cyber bugs will always do their best to outpace them. After all, cyberterrorists deem they are smarter and technologically savvy.
In the phase of a trend-setting world encircled by issues of globalization and terrorism, countries and regional groupings must engage on tight cyber security agreements aimed at ensuring cooperation. Firstly, to undertake serious collection and analysis of cyberterrorism related information. Secondly, to minimize duplication of efforts since cyberterrorism is multi-jurisdictional and very few treatise or conventions address computer crimes across borders.
I believe that proper handling of terrorism related information through the use of various cyber investigative techniques is very significant to help eliminate or reduce such threats. Sustained training programs for law enforcers and investigators on cyberterrorism will be helpful in confronting such threats in our country and the world where the Information Superhighway transcends territorial boundaries.
By all means, all ordinary cyber users must be aware of this; not only as a precaution but a responsibility that we must carry on. To ease our fears when cyberterrorists launch a sudden and deadly cyber attack. After all, the essence of all this transgression and crimes by cyberterrorists is the use of violence encrusted with political hypocrisy aimed to ebb fear among millions of cyber users and civilians.
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