BAYBAY CITY, Leyte – After facing controversy over an alleged vulgar conversation with a senior high school student, Emmanuel Dagatan speaks out, insisting his account was hacked.
Dagatan, who is currently at Tacloban City for his training as senior high school teacher, spoke to Amaranth in a phone interview, and explained how it happened. He was hacked, but he doesn’t know who the hacker is.
But the vulgar chats with the senior high school student who posted their private conversation, he said, wasn’t the first time that his Facebook account was hacked.
Another instance was when he left his cellphone in his boarding house at San Pedro, Baybay City sometime in March 2017. The landlady’s Grade 7 pupil played with the phone, and started chatting with strangers online. This incident prompted Dagatan to move out, in fear that he might do something to the child out of his anger.
This explains the chats that were brought up by various VSU students who claim that Dagatan also approached them, following the viral post.
Despite denying these allegations however, Dagatan admits to contacting Mr. Joy Salve, a Development Communication fresh graduate of VSU.
Salve said Dagatan offered him 5,000-pesos and a scooter in exchange for oral sex. When asked why he did that, Dagatan explained that it was because it’s his way of approaching people he finds likeable.
“I have a style that if I want to get to know a person, I would send a message like that. But only to him. I made my co-teacher read and she said Joy was short-tempered,” said Dagatan in Cebuano.
The text exchange happened last January.
“Ask ko ba, pero ay kasuko. Pila ako ihatag nimo para machupa tika?” was Dagatan’s first question in the text conversation. He later promised never to disclose the offer to anyone and presented the 5,000-pesos offer.
[I’ve been meaning to ask. But don’t get mad. How much do I have to pay you for a blowjob?]
Joy Salve then threatened to punch Dagatan.
The latter did not understand why Joy became infuriated, so he did not take the threat seriously because his offer was “only a joke.”
Despite the online fuss over Amaranth’s coverage of the leaked private conversations, Dagatan said he does not have anything against the publication.
“Wala ko nagdumot. Wala ko naglagot. Kung naa lay sayop, I will be very much willing to apologize if kinahanglan,” Dagatan told Amaranth. “Lami ihilak jud nga lain pero wala ko magdumot sa writer. Gikan kos Devcom, gikan ko sa Amaranth, tapos naa si Jed (Cortes), tapos ingon ana.”
[I am not mad. If there is a mistake I am very much willing to apologize. I want to cry but I am holding it against the writer. I am from Devcom and Amaranth. And Jed (Cortes) is there, but this happened.]
Dagatan is a VSU Development Communication graduate and a former Amaranth staff.
Editor’s note: Mr. Joy Salve was Amaranth’s anonymous source in the previous story. But he has since decided to be identified publicly. Mr. Jed Asaph Cortes, whom Mr. Dagatan referenced in his response, sits at the Amaranth advisory board, and was his former classmate in college.