Valencia takes over as Navy chief in acting capacity
Valencia takes over as Navy chief in acting capacity
Rear Admiral Caesar Bernard Valencia takes over the Philippine Navy's top position in an acting capacity following the compulsory retirement of Vice Admiral Adeluis Bordado on Thursday.
Bordado, the 39th Flag Officer In Command of the Philippine Navy, relinquished the top Navy post as he bowed out of service upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 56.
In his remarks, Bordado expressed full confidence in the next Flag Officer In Command (FOIC) of the Philippine Navy to find “value in the worthwhile initiatives and priorities that my predecessors and I have taken”, as the “continuity of efforts is as important as the potential effect of organizational changes.”
Commander Benjo Negranza, Philippine Navy public affairs director said Valencia, who is the deputy of Bordado, succeeded him in acting capacity pending the appointment of a full-fledged FOIC of the Philippine Navy by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The change of command and retirement ceremonies in Manila was led by Department of National Defense (DND) Officer-in-Charge, Senior Undersecretary Jose Faustino Jr.
In his speech, Faustino assured Valencia of his “full trust and confidence” and gave a marching order to “lead the Navy as a reliable partner in nation-building, sustain its transformation into a modern and multi-capable force, a dependable protector not only of our seas but also of our nation’s future.”
Being the Navy’s “steward until our Commander-in-Chief decides to whom he gives the mantle of leadership of this maritime nation’s premier fighting force at sea and from the sea”, Valencia vowed to continue the thrusts and guidance of his predecessor while looking forward to the bright future of the organization.
“As we continue to sail on towards our vision year in 2028 to be modern and multi-capable, the Navy’s promise to our maritime nation is that your Navy can still be better, and that your Navy will be better. And although much has been achieved over the years, the Navy’s proudest moments are still to come”, he said.
Valencia, a graduate of Philippine Military Academy Class of 1990 previously serve as the Chief of Naval Staff, the Commander of Naval Forces Northern Luzon, and the Commander of the Offshore Combat Force wherein he spearheaded big-ticket projects initiated by the Navy such as the acquisition of offshore patrol vessels, frigates and corvettes. Robina Asido/DMS
GCash says it blocked more than 1 million fraudulent accounts
GCash says it blocked more than 1 million fraudulent accounts
By Robina Asido
GCash, a mobile wallet app that allows people to pay bills, send money and other tasks, blocked more than a million fraudulent accounts as part of its fight against online scammers.
In a radio interview, Mark Frogoso, GCash Security Officer said it is one of the efforts they implement to fight the online scams.
"We are implementing a lot of controls on the back end because we also monitor fraudulent GCash accounts. Actually right now we have blocked more than one million GCash accounts already," he said.
"On top of that on the telco (telecommunications) side what they are doing is they blocked the links that we received. So if you are a subscriber of a Telco, if you click a link the traffic will go to the telco and they will block it," he added.
Frogoso said GCash has so far blocked almost 1,000 phishing sites.
"On our side, if we see phishing sites which also impersonate GCash, we take down the actual site to make it become non-existence or offline, so far we blocked almost 1,000 phishing sites," he said.
Frogoso also noted that GCash coordinated with the law enforcers for investigation and conduct of entrapment operations against scammers.
"We are in close coordination with our law enforcement, so basically when we receive an inquiry for a fraud investigation we are operating with law enforcement to capture them and in fact, we actually had successful entrapment operations and we have arrested fraudsters," he said.
Frogoso said the security measures they implement include the protection of their company and protection of customers.
"The security measures we implement are really two things. Number one we protect our company itself because in return we also protect the data within the company and the other one is really we extend our protection to our customers, number one on that is our awareness campaigns, through every social media channels that we have," he said. DMS