MANILA, Philippines - For lack of a cybercrime law, hackers and other cybercriminals can get away scot-free even after taking control of the e-mail accounts of a vice-presidential candidate and a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee in the Philippines.

Environmental lawyer Antonio Oposa, who won the 2009 Ramon Magsaysay Award, was victimized by this online scam recently after cybercriminals took control of his yahoo email account and used it to ask for money from his contacts. 

An email sent last December 7 from Oposa's email address said Oposa was robbed at a hotel in Wales and was in dire need of £1,730 (approximately P128,000) for his hotel bills. It said that Oposa would pay back the money as soon as he returns to the Philippines.

On the same day, Oposa sent a statement saying that his email account had been hacked and that people should disregard the bogus email.

"This is to advise that my yahoo email address has been hacked and a bogus email was sent from my address. It purports to say that I lost my luggage in Wales and needed some 1,750 pounds as I am in distress. Please disregard this bogus email and kindly forward this email to our common friends. Because of this hacking, I have lost practically all my email addresses and am now trying to reconstruct my directory," he said.

Weeks later, a similar incident happened to former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Perfecto Yasay who is also the vice-presidential candidate of Bangon Pilipinas Party.

In a statement, Yasay said someone using his email account had sent a message to his contacts, asking for financial help purportedly for a sick cousin whom he was visiting in London.

"I will like you to please assist me with a soft loan, of $1500 urgently to sort-out my Cousin's bills, i promise to repay you back as soon as i return  back home to Philippines, the hospital management is demanding for a deposit of $1700 before they can  carry out the surgery operation but she has been place on a temporary medical care prior the time we make the deposit. the very condition i found her soul is very critical and it makes me feel sad...," the email, with notable grammatical errors, said.

Yasay denied sending the email, saying that he had already lost control of the account after his password was changed. He said he was alarmed after receiving calls and text messages from concerned friends who had received the email.

The former SEC chairman said the incident underscores the need to pass a law that would address cybercrime. He said the law would protect the rising number of Internet users in the country, which is estimated to have reached 24 million.

"We have to push for a legislation agenda that would strike a balance between giving a teeth to cyber security on one hand, and protecting the individual's right to privacy, on the other hand," Yasay said in a statement.

The Department of Justice and the Commission on Information and Communications Technology along with private sector groups have been working on a long-overdue draft cybercrime bill. Under the proposed bill, those found guilty of computer crimes or computer sabotage could be fined P100,000 up to a maximum amount commensurate to the damage incurred plus a jail sentence of six to 12 years. By David Dizon, abs-cbnNEWS.com