Smart: Over 5M spam, scam messages blocked in Feb.

Pangilinan-led PLDT Inc. and its wireless unit Smart Communications Inc. over the weekend said they blocked over 5 million scam and spam text messages and over 38,000 mobile numbers involved in fraudulent activities in February.

PLDT said its Cyber Security Operations Group (CSOG) also stopped more than 1.4 billion attempts to open malicious domains in February, including 200,000 sites and content relat- ed to online sexual abuse and exploitation of children.

The group said it blocked 83 million cyber attacks and attempts to breach its network in February, as it boosted efforts to protect its digital infrastructure.

“As we double efforts to register our mobile subscribers, we are also working 24/7 to stop malicious messages from passing through our network,” PLDT and Smart FVP and Chief Information Security Officer Angel Redoble said in an emailed statement.

“We work closely with SMS aggregators and financial institutions to immediately prevent text scams from spreading to mobile users in the country,” he added.

Meanwhile, Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. said it blocked a record-high 2.72 billion scam and spam messages in 2022, more than double the 1.15 billion recorded in the previous year.

The company has spent some

In encouraging Catholic devotees to exercise precautions in attending masses during the Lenten season: although optional

It was Holy Week of 2012 when I accompanied my Filipino-Australian cousin Jeremy Baltazar to witness one of what can be considered the extreme acts of devotion in the Philippines, the flagellants doing the “penitensya”.

Jeremy said that watching a Filipino penitent engage in self-flagellation is indeed not for the faint of heart.

During my younger days, I used to wait for the procession of the “penitensya” coming from the Malibay area in Pasay City . Perhaps due to curiosity as a child , I usually sit in the sidewalk and wonder why they do this practice every Good Friday.

Filipino Catholics are known for having sincere, enormous and extreme expressions of piety considering that the country is the third-largest Catholic population in the world.

The fervent devotion and faith shown by devotees became a prime manifestation of the fusion of Catholic and secular beliefs and practices of Filipinos.

Lent is the commemoration of the suffering, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a 40-daylong observance that begins on Ash Wednesday, and ends with Easter Sunday.

As Catholics see this season as a time for personal conversion and atonement, many Filipinos perform traditions in the week leading to Easter in the hope they will be cleansed of sins and illnesses and their wishes might be granted.

Devotees flock to churches for confessions and prayers like novenas and the Way of the Cross. Penance and sacrifices such as abstaining from eating meat and fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are also observed.

Some penitents have enacted a much greater mortification on Good Friday – flagellation and crucifixion.

Flagellation (from Latin flagel-