Henry Dy (left), Sunpride Foods Inc. general operations manager, files the complaint against Aldara Piñero (center) and her niece Sistine Piñero at the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office. (CDN Photo/Junjie Mendoza)
Women post video of spoiled canned meat on Facebook
Two women face charges for allegedly trying to extort more than half a million pesos from a food manufacturing company based in Barangay Pakna-an, Mandaue City.
Aldara Piñero and her niece Sistine Piñero were arrested in an entrapment operation at a mall in Cebu City by agents of the regional office of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI-7) last Tuesday evening.
The two women were monitored for two weeks before their arrest, regional NBI director Patricio Bernales Jr. said.
“They are now facing robbery by means of intimidation and also for violating the cyber crime law,” Bernales said.
Henry Dy, Sunpride Foods Inc. general operations manager, said Aldara and Sistine tried to extort P735,000 from them.
“They uploaded a video in Aldara Mirafuentes Facebook account claiming that the corned beef they bought was rotten and contained worms,” Dy said.
The video went viral and was shared many times.
Dy said they tried to negotiate with Aldara and Sistine, but the women demanded money.
He alleged that the women told them that they won’t take down the video unless they were paid the amount equivalent to the number of times the video was viewed.
At the time, the video was already viewed 735,000 times.
Dy said they sent a message to them asking them to contact their customer service number for their complaints.
Dy said they wanted a meeting and then demanded payment in exchange for taking down the video.
Aldara denied that they demanded money from the company, claiming that it was Sunpride Foods Inc. that offered money to them.
Aldara said there were really worms inside the can that they bought from a store near their house.
“When we posted the video, we wanted the public to know that their product has worms. They offered a settlement,” Aldara said.
Dy said their canned meat products go through a sterilization process and for their corned beef, they heat it up to 270 degrees Fahrenheit to destroy bacteria.
“That’s about 121 degrees centigrade for 70 minutes, ensuring that nothing, no microorganisms can survive, certainly no worms can survive in the can when you open it,” he said.
Dy said they watched the video and observed that Aldara and her niece didn’t complain about any foul odor that came out of the can.
“All meats that have worms in them emit foul odor,” he said.
The charges were filed against Aldara and Sistine at the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office yesterday.
Both women are now detained at the NBI-7 cell.