The Twitter account of Filipina actress Maine Mendoza, who is popularly known as Yaya Dub on afternoon variety show “Eat Bulaga!,” was hacked by a group of “hacktivists” known as Anonymous Philippines.
The group has claimed responsibility for hacking a number of government and Chinese websites in 2012, according to InterAksyon, saying its hacks are a way of protesting the Aquino administration.
“Sorry po if napadaan kami sa account ni yayadub, ibabalik din namin to sa tunay na may-ari.. Nagmamahal, Anonymous Philippines (Sorry if we stopped by Yaya Dub’s account, we’ll eventually return it to its true owner.. Love, Anonymous Philippines),” the group said in a tweet it deleted along with its other messages around noon on Tuesday, Nov. 3, suggesting that Mendoza has regain access to her Twitter account, according to InterAksyon.
“Instagram’s fine, Twitter’s back, Facebook deactivated (by hackers), email still inaccessible #fyi,” Mendoza tweeted on Nov. 2 at 11:33pm, Los Angeles time.
Among tweets sent out by the group on Mendoza’s account was a link to a Facebook video inviting people to participate in the “Million Mask March Philippines.” The march is meant for people to stand up for what is right and to let their voices be heard, Manila Bulletin reported.
“The time has come to once again to show the world that we, the people, care about the issues surrounding our beloved country,” Annonymous Philippines wrote.
The hackers received backlash from Mendoza’s fans on Twitter. The popular actress currently has more than 2.4 million followers on the social media platform.
“Hackers, are you looking for dirt to throw? Your ride to hell is here,” wrote Twitter user Harmond Marte.
The group, which has defaced multiple government websites, has cited several issues against the Aquino government for which it has committed hacking activities, including the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 and the Mamaspano incident that ended in the killing of 44 commandos of the Philippine National Police’s Special Action Force, InterAksyon reported.
In 2012, Annonymous Philippines hacked about 200 Chinese government and commercial websites amid the peak tension resulting from the territorial dispute of the South China Sea between China and the Philippines, claiming, “Scarborough Shoals is ours!”
Last year, it claimed responsibility for hacking the National Telecommunications Commission website, saying it was suffering from slow Internet speed along with other Filipinos.
More recently, Annonymous Philippines has criticized the ongoing bullet scandal at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, alleging it is being coordinated by the Office for Transportation Security and airport police.
After hacking Mendoza’s Twitter account, the group took to Facebook to claim responsibility for what it did and offered an apology.
“Dear fans of Aldub, we sincerely apologize for the recent intrusion of your beloved Idol’s Twitter account. You can rest assure that we don’t have any malicious intent towards the said individual or any programs pertaining to that person. We just wanted to send a message to the public, and using Maine’s account is one of the easiest way we could find. Rest assured that we are doing our best to contact the respectful owner of the said twitter account with the purpose of giving them back their access. We already know we will get a lot of negative comments. But sometimes, you must give a sacrifice for the cause.”
In a later Facebook post, the group reiterated it has no malicious intent and said they are not the enemy.
“Hindi ito ang tamang panahon para pagtalunan kung bakit namin ginawa ang isang bagay. Siguro ang dapat nyong isipin e kung ano yung nagtulak sa amin para gawin yun (This is not the right time to argue about why we did this. What you should probably think about is what prompted us to do this),” the group wrote.
