Noy replaces old phone, number

MANILA, Philippines - After hackers got wind of his cell phone number, President Aquino was finally forced to let go of his first generation iPhone, which he had owned since his days as a senator.

Sources confirmed that the 53-year-old President replaced his old mobile phone and subscriber number after receiving some 3,000 text messages in mid-June after hackers posted his telephone number online.

Of the three phone numbers posted online, one turned out to be Aquino’s real cell phone number.

Prior to the reported hacking though, Aquino was about to upgrade his cell phone, but was not about to give up his old number that he used way back when he was still a Tarlac congressman for nine years - from 1998 to 2007 - up to the time he was a senator.

He has been complaining of glitches in his phone for the past years, apparently because it became buggy owing to the fact that his first generation iPhone - issued in 2007 - had never been updated, thereby suffering from hardware and software incompatibility.

There had been several versions of the iPhone since then with the latest version iPhone 5.

From the time Aquino assumed office, Presidential Security Group chief Gen. Ramon Mateo Dizon has been trying to convince his boss to replace his old unit and number due to the sensitivity of being chief executive.

But Aquino refused, pointing out that his old friends will be disassociated from him, insisting that this was his only way to get the sentiments of people on how he is running the government.

It was reported in the middle of June that a hacker, who claims to be a member of “Anonymous Philippines,” posted online Aquino’s three mobile phone numbers, which Presidential Communications Group Secretary Ricky Carandang refused to confirm or deny.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte explained that Aquino’s unbridled accessibility could be traced back from the time he was a three-term congressman from Tarlac, until he served for three years until 2010 in the Senate.

“Reporters who covered the President from the time he was a Tarlac congressman know that. He remains to be very accessible, and it’s not that hard to reach and talk to him. So, again, until that time, the accessibility to the President continues,” she said.

Aquino is a text savvy person who spells out text messages correctly.