‘Only 80% of stolen GCash recovered’

ONLY 80 percent of the unauthorized fund transfers from mobile wallet GCash to several private bank accounts were recovered, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Felipe Medalla said Wednesday.

Medalla said that based on an initial investigation, there was no hacking involved.

“It was not hacking, it was phishing. Luckily, they acted fast enough and recovered 80 percent of what was stolen,” Medalla said in a television interview.

He confirmed that the individuals behind the unauthorized cash transfers withdrew some of the funds, but GCash, the mobile wallet of Globe Telecom Inc., shouldered the balance to return the whole missing amount.

The BSP earlier ordered G-Xchange

PhilSuCor...

From A1 during the meeting was to revitalize PhilSuCor. It provides financing for farmers, especially for cooperatives and farmers’ associations, those called ‘blocks.’ Now they are not able to work very much because they tried to abolish the PhilSuCor,” Mr. Marcos said.

“But it was not abolished, they are still there, so we will revive it, and we will change it. We will see what the changes are so that we can adjust to our current situation and continue their work in providing assistance to our farmers, to our farmer groups,” he added.

Mr. Marcos and the group discussed concerns and measures to boost the country’s sugar production, as well as government’s plans to promote the development of the sugar industry.

PhilSucor was created under Presidential Decree No. 1890 in 1983 during the term of President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. to finance the acquisition, rehabilitation, and/or expansion of sugar mills, refineries, and other related facilities.

An order to abolish PhilSuCor was released on October 25, 2018, under thenPresident Rodrigo Duterte, citing the government firm’s overlapping functions with the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) as recommended by the Governance Commission for GOCCs (Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations). With Othel V. Campos

Warmest...

From A1 send temperatures soaring.

There is a two-thirds chance that at least one of the next five years will see global temperatures exceed the more ambitious target set out in the Paris accords on limiting climate change, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.

Locally, several areas in Bicol Region and Western Visayas experienced a heat index of 46°C on Wednesday, according to the state weather bureau.

PAGASA classifies heat indices reaching 42°C to 51°C as under “dangerous” level, which may cause heat stroke and heat exhaustion.

The highest computed heat index was recorded in Masbate City; Daet, Camarines Sur, and Catarman, Northern Samar, a GMA TV report said last night.

A similar heat index is likewise projected in Roxas City, Capiz on Thursday. AFP

DA:...

From A1 by the onion industry along with data from farmers, traders, and cold storage owners. He admitted the DA is being fed conflicting reports.

“Some say there are many onions in the country, while others say we do not have enough supply. If we do have the volume, or considering we have remaining supply, the institutional buyers will take up the entire volume and not the government,” he said Wednesday.

Curiously, the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) – an agency under the DA -- on Wednesday assured an adequate supply of onions in the country amid spiking market prices.

In a Laging Handa public briefing, BPI spokesperson Jose Diego Roxas said although there is a steady supply of onion for now, the market price is hitting between P160 to P200 per kilogram for red onion, while local white onion prices range from P150 to P200/kg.

“The supply of our onion is enough, not lose their funds on GCash,” the company said in a statement.

Medalla said efforts now focus on tracking down the holders of the private bank accounts where the missing GCash funds were transferred.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said fraudsters behind the unauthorized cash transfers targeting GCash users were able to withdraw some of the stolen money.