Fake viral video a case of blackmail, labor chief says

The viral video of an Amman-based Filipino woman tearfully complaining that the wife of the country’s labor attaché to Jordan beat her up and threatened to kill her and her family was nothing more than a blackmail scheme, according to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III.

Bello said the Jordanian police arrested Honey Lyn Baquiran and her unidentified Jordanian boyfriend after they accepted $500 from lawyer Jainal Rasul Jr., the country’s labor attaché in Amman, in an entrapment operation.

The sting operation was set up after Rasul presented to the police evidence and testimony that Baquiran and her boyfriend were trying to extort $2,000 from him. The couple were detained for a few days after their arrest.

Now a fugitive

“[But on Tuesday] I was informed by our labor attaché that the Filipino absconded. She left Jordan already,” Bello said in an online press briefing on Wednesday. “[Baquiran] is now a fugitive from justice.”

Rasul, who has served as labor attaché in various Philippine embassies, said Baquiran threatened to divulge through Facebook that Rasul’s wife abused her.

Baquiran demanded that Rasul pay her $2,000 so she would not post the video on Facebook.

In the video, Baquiran tearfully claimed that Rasul’s wife beat her up, threatened to kill her and her family, and made her sign a document she did not fully understand after Mrs. Rasul accused her of having an affair with the attaché.

Baquiran’s sister, Honey May, shared the video on Facebook and even tagged President Duterte and his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.