PCO Press Briefing with PNP & DOJ 04/25/2024

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and welcome

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conference on April 25 at the sectoral meeting yesterday President Ferdinand R. Marcos Junior condemned in the strongest terms the crimes of online sexual abuse and exploitation of children or Osa and child sexual abuse and exploitation materials or cisim in the Philippines. President Marcos ordered DG PNP NBI doj dswd and other agencies into the national coordination center to intensify the fight against Osa and cisek In 2016, the Philippines emerged as the production center of child sexual abuse materials in the world according to a study conducted by UNICEF in 2022 which interrupted the damage study. A study conducted by UNICEF Eat International and Interpol shows that 20% of Filipino children between 12 and 17 years old who use the Internet or 2 million children were victims of Osa, in addition, between 23 and 38% of children who They are victims, they don't tell anyone about the harm that is being done to them.

Osa is a heinous form of violence against children, it is a hidden and borderless crime, it occurs mainly in the home and is probably facilitated by trusted guardians and sometimes parents, there are many factors that drive this crime including poverty, easy and unsupervised access to the Internet and online. payment portals and prevailing social norms like do not touch, do no harm or it's just a webcam and, uh, a lot of English is spoken. President Marcos ordered the DG and the PNP to intensify the monitoring of cases locally and abroad and increase presence in the communities, ordered the Department of Justice and the PNP to punish the perpetrators with the full weight of the law and ordered the DSWD and other agencies to expedite and improve the investigation process to ensure that children are protected and families are properly reintegrated.

He also ordered greater collaboration with the private sector. and Internet service providers on a local to global scale and an awareness campaign in schools and communities and to give us a detailed breakdown of the ongoing initiatives to fight Osa and cisim, we are joined by the Undersecretary of the Department of Justice, José Dominic Clavano IV, and the officer in charge of the NCC lawyer Osa sisam Margarita magai and the head of the PNP Women and Children Protection Center Police Brigadier General borsa manalad good morning ladies and gentlemen it is a rather heavy topic yes um let's continue go ahead uh lawyer maai so as Miss Daphne mentioned we inform you the president of the ongoing initiatives that our government agencies are doing to combat, so there are many angles to fight this crime, we are focusing on four areas of assault Cur to combat this, so there is prevention and promotion we have programs for that in order to raise awareness about the seriousness of the crime, we also have the prosecutor's office and law enforcement where of course we have our law enforcement agencies the law, helping with the investigation of these crimes and also with our prosecutors to prosecute this crime we also have our key results area on protection and reintegration, making sure that children have access to the mandatory services that are provided to them under the law, such as emergency shelter, psychosocial services and so that they can reintegrate back into society and of course we have another key result area which is partnership and networking, making sure that we are engaging organizations in society civil society, as well as other NGOs, to help us combat this, so the president pointed out that we are doing a lot of things, but he wants us to consolidate our efforts and focus more on the expertise of each agency, so he was saying that, in As far as the Department of Justice is concerned, focus all your efforts on the prosecution to enforce the law.

Law enforcement agencies really, you know, crack down on these perpetrators, let's improve our tips, you know, the leads that we are getting, also for the grassroots level for the DG, let us, let us, create ordinances, already you know, to properly inform the barang on how to report cases of oai and um as well as the um uh for the DI also so that they can also help us with the private sector um so that they are more cooperative um of course because they have data that will be able to help us generate and lead us to IP addresses of certain users, which will be useful for a law enforcement agency, agency officials will take strong action against those who send this type of sisim. who is getting this kind of sisim so thank you lawyer magai let's move on to ask clavano Yes good morning everyone yes this is indeed a very heavy topic because even though our efforts are considered best practices in our region, we still see the insurgency. of this type of crime no and um as I accurately described before it is a heinous crime a very heinous crime and we believe that it is already ingrained in the culture um there are certain difficulties that the police authorities um cease not when they try to quell this type of crime or to prevent this type of crime because as also mentioned it is a hidden crime and um it is difficult to detect especially because it is carried out within the homes of the victims' families and uh as noted 74% of the cases are uh well perpetrated by those who fall within what is called the circle of trust and which involves or includes the parents, close relatives and those who exercise moral influence over the child and obviously these things are very alarming yesterday at the meeting, the president was visibly distressed.

I am very upset and clearly stressed with the information that was related to him, that is why he gave the directive a very strong directive to the Department of Justice, the PNP and other law enforcement agencies to further intensify efforts, no say that. uh we haven't put any effort into this yet, there are many key result areas that we are monitoring that have been mentioned by uh Ed kit here, um, but your directive is to further intensify these efforts to further investigate how we can propose a holistic solution because this cannot be done just through a whole-of-government approach, but rather a whole-of-nation approach, which includes the private sector, the social media platforms where these crimes generally occur, Facebook, for example, asked the Justice Department. to intensify conversations with Facebook and remind them of their obligations under the law, so all of this has been taken into account, obviously, we have taken note of all the president's directives and we do. we plan to implement them within our respective areas and respective departments and agencies, so under the Department of Justice because we have already established the Department's Circular 20 which requires prosecutors to now work hand in hand with our police officers, we believe that with the legality.

The background and police investigation skills of police officers allow us to build quality cases for the court. No, because previously only a very small or very low level of evidence was needed to bring a case to DC20. With the advent of dc20, only those who have sufficient evidence and a pre Prima fasi case with a reasonable certainty of conviction will be brought to court, which will increase the conviction rate, so this obviously puts a lot of pressure on our law enforcement agencies. law enforcement to get the right evidence to get the right statements to get the right witnesses to testify to be able to present a very strong case and I think this is one of the things that will help us in this effort. not to finally prevent or to finally put an end to um Osa and sis so with that um I would probably pass the microphone to General porsa so that he can give the PNP side thank you very much General manala forward um the The Center for the Protection of Women and Children is the lead agency when it comes to oos being considered a human trafficking case since 2019 we are trying to do our best to do something or prevent the SEC from happening but then the law and uh the law was passed by last time in or which is uh ra 11930 last 2022 and we have numbers on the operations uh arrested and um rescued victims um the Philippine National Police under the work of the W cpc um in OA cases in The investigation is investigating our investigative operations to rescue the victims and arrest the facilitators in the Philippines.

We also collaborate with other foreign law enforcement agencies through Pakistan or Internet Crimes Against Children under the Philippine National Police, Women and Children. The uh the Pak Protection Center is made up of the uh UK National Crime Agency, the Australian federal police, the Dutch police and the IG M, so together they refer cases when they find devices in other countries when they arrest. uh criminals who have um under the C devices and then they refer it to us if there are Philipp children or Filipinos of Asian appearance and we do the rescue and arrest of facilitators in the Philippines, we only have facilitators or hairdressers, uh at this moment we don't have them yet. uh those perpetrators uh um buying a CM so it's for the Philippine National Police thank you um any questions okay Harley Val bua dzme microphone hello good morning po uh can we know if there is already a reported case of child exploitation material generated by AI in the Philippines and what are our preparations against this right now?

We don't have ai generated, and, we are that, but the Philippine national police and of course the yat is preparing for that, I just came from a meeting through the virtual. The global task force where we are, even other countries like South Korea is still developing a tool to identify the AI ​​generated, uh um C, okay, are we doing the same thing, ma'am? Will we also develop a system to counter that yes as partners of those? countries, we are trying to develop those tools to create a marisel Hal TV5 hi mag um Can we have details about us rampant OA and c and generally market nil the DAT um a moment rampant areas of O kagay Deo andig your second The question is Market, ah, okay, well, definitely, they target the vulnerable, so who are the vulnerable, now it's the children? easy targets because um O is an economically lucrative activity, so the victims 300 200 um just for showing s showing nude photos G yes 200 200 300 according to yes po that's how bad it is because of that and that's why it's becoming more cheap is becoming more accessible to perpetrators so it's very alarming because um s it has become more accessible to um these perpetrators um so the following are the key findings of OIC victims no, the average age of OIC victims at the time of referral or rescue she was 11 years old with less than a year being the youngest, in fact before, the youngest victim was approximately 3 months old, which is very alarming, it is something unthinkable for us, no, but apparently it happens and all we have to do is spread awareness. spread the word that these things really aren't normal when the facilitator is a parent or family member, the victim's modal age is in the preteen range, while when the family facilitator is not a family member, the modal age profile is adolescent rage.

OAIC victims were predominantly women (86%) and a significant number of victims, which is 14%, were men. Osa was generally a family crime in which the biological parents facilitated the AB abuse of 41% of the victims and other family members facilitated the abuse. another 42% of victims and without intervention the abuse usually lasts two years so this is the information and the research done by the National Coordination Center and obviously these will be the target areas and the policies will obviously be. They revolve around the data that was collected and the materials: are they foreigners from which countries? Well, they are generally older, English-speaking men from more developed and Western countries, but the clients, as indicated here, are not necessarily even pedophiles, which means that they do not have any open acts in their own countries where they showed tendencies pedophiles uh so they just enjoy seeing them on the internet and on social media and other platforms which is again very alarming because it seems like we are a favorite place or a source of These Western countries abuse um a Just you know See and uh um it doesn't really feel comfortable, not for our children or for us in the government, that our children are being used and seen all over the country in this way, okay, Alan Francisco ptv4, hello sir, hello moms, um Kagan deoro iligan both from Mindanao in isig we are top three yes hot spots sir final mom come on you know when you say there are a lot of O um inces in those areas no.

PO, it could be a good thing and it could be a bad thing, why do I say it could be a bad thing, obviously, sorry, it could be a bad thing, but it could also be a good thing, that means reporting because, um? That is the challenge we are trying to address here, is what AEK and Police Squad S are saying now that this is a hidden crime, it is their parents, who are the traffickers, who are doing this to them,Nobody wants to report. this you know, this is a family business, a family, this is a family affair, so, um, to know the true extent or the prevalence to get accurate data because of underreporting, so okay Ian Marina gma7 Source number one Philippines in 2016 has that changed, um, I think it's better for us to be called Global Hotpot, whichever prevails.

I think the accuracy of the data, uh, is difficult to detect, first of all, live streaming, we consider live streaming to be a violation of the law, but no. um internet intermediary on their live streaming platform, so we can't really catch it. That's one of the things we're in ongoing conversations with internet intermediaries on social media platforms about. It's just that we need to capture them in you know. live streaming platforms that you provide your users, yes, I was actually going to get there next, will we receive cooperation from Telos and also yes, from the social media platforms, through which these are perpetrated?

Yeah, so we're getting cooperation, um, internet intermediaries who give us access to their portals, which is easier for our intelligence agent to report to them any cases of O, that's good, but under the guys' responsibilities, like for example, their response time to report any incidents to the Department of Justice, compliance is 24 hours, you know, sometimes. um uh we hope to be able to um uh uh require ISPs to continually update their system we hope we have that technology ipv4 IPv6 what do I mean by that as I understand it? detect from an IP address to a defined user, so I understand that it will be of great help for law enforcement officers because they have the information of IPv4 users who are using the same IPV address, so that is under the law, um such, It's just a matter of pressing. talaga or get a government policy uh demanding a last one from me, do we have an estimate of how much money is circulating in Osai?

I mean, how much is the industry worth in quotes? I can give you um s strs the suspicious transaction report that is reported by the amlc so um in its study no PO the volume of suspicious transaction reports that the covered persons reported to them Banks money services businesses um for the year 2020 I 83 m 348,000 in value, so that's just for the yes, in pesos, so that's just for the second half of 2020 in 2021, your SDR volume po suspicious transaction report um was 68,276 sorry 996 m75 33980 pesos 2022 Naman, the volume of S Str is 92,500 and its value was 478 m278 797 pesos 81, it is so safe to say billions, yes, thank you, okay, maybe we can also go back to how during the pandemic, when the children were at home, they weren't safe okay, the study also shows that children are largely unsupervised online in the Philippines so unsupervised by English-speaking parents so attacked Predators abroad are hospitable uh and uh again easy and free access to the Internet and mobile phones uh yesterday President Marcos was very, very alarmed and very, very disturbed and the entire society and even the private sector, even the parents think about Malon, okay, let's go with Julie Aurelio Inquirer, hello magai lawyer, you mentioned, well everyone has mentioned that OA and Zim are a hidden crime, since we have a problem with case reporting, do you have? like a projection or an estimate of how much is really unreported, let's say if you have five cases, how much is really unreported, you have IDE, it's hard to capture something unreported, but um, a projection, um, yeah, so, um. a lot of our investigations actually come from law enforcement uh um international law enforcement um um police uh General na um Pak noo um we have very good coordination with them um and sometimes so um that and I think we have a lot of our advice and clues from foreign law enforcement, so because we're not, if we don't have any tips coming from them about any Filipino victims that are in the Philippines, we won't know because it's hard, it's hard to be.

I can know now uh reporting I'm sorry I'm sorry ma'am. My next question is directed to you, so there are very few cases reported to local authorities. Is there little that T ba M General yes foreign lady? Law enforcement agencies will refer those cases to us. Asian looking devices we will try to find and then try to rescue the child and arrest usually someone relative or facor so from the Philippines sometimes a criminal or a facilitator or a groomer just a follow up sorry , just the last question, um, follow up on that, uh, when you arrest the perpetrators, the preparers or the facilitators of the crime, um, explanation of why they do that to their own WS, their own children and, in secondly, the second question can be answered by the do um they have statistics on the successful prosecution of cases like those that actually reach the prosecutor level the court level Etc. thank you yes M of course so lucrative or preparation etc. on the prosecution prosecution side yes, so I have uh Here is data on convictions imposed under various laws um before the NCC and the OAIC law was passed, so since 2009 there have been 523 convictions.

When the law was passed in 2022, of the 523, almost 200 were 200. The convictions were made after the law was passed, so we see a very significant jump after this law and this tool was delivered to the authorities and to the prosecution to convict the perpetrators of oosa and sisim, however, this number is still not satisfactory. to the government and the president and that is why he asked and ordered the relevant agencies to further intensify their efforts because even if we have seen an increase due to the law that was given to us and obviously we thank Congress for giving us such a valuable tool to prevent this and catch these perpetrators.

We still think there is a lot to do, a lot of coverage to cover a lot of ground to cover in terms of oaic and um, as already mentioned, this will come in the form of grassroots reporting mechanisms by which um people who are embedded in the community, people who have prestige in their areas, um will serve as that mechanism to build a bridge between the community where crime takes place. it really happens and the law enforcement authorities can do something about it, but still, um, may I add, even if the law enforcement authorities get the information, it's still a difficult job considering that most of the perpetrators are within the circle of Trust, so Let him know that we have to analyze the problem comprehensively to be able to find a comprehensive solution, because once the families of the victim child are separated, the problem does not end there, they must be able to be reintegrated. properly incorporate them into society without the necessary rehabilitation, reform and reintegration into the community, then you are simply creating a bigger problem, so these two things go hand in hand, the convictions, the prosecution, in which we will take steps to achieve improvements , but also reintegration, Reform, Rehabilitation. of the victims Alvin baltasar Ria Pilipinas uh good morning sir maybe I should direct my question to general manalad SAS particular experience wcpc Philipp National Police uh is involved in the investigation the rescue and arrest of the facilitator during the process um of course the investigators They are trained to handle children um and uh I like the video during the interview so that they don't get R traumatized when they um they uh uh tell what happened to them I interviewed the police during the dswd interview as part of the theater um and then um then the psychological intervention under dswd is the interview so that we can file cases against the perpetrators, but then I trained um uh in the Philippines and abroad on how to handle child victims of O facilitators when they grow up, especially through different DWD agencies as a companion during the handling or interview of the child victim okay Alexis Romero Philippine Starner crimes profile again generally although they are from poor families mostly this um many studies actually po um have already been done regarding toad po so this was a study by IGM Key findings OIC victims, so I think this was also mentioned by Asik Miko, so they are generally from the vulnerable sector of the society.

They're also usually family crimes, usually the access facilitator child, um, is that what you're asking is usually low. low income low income yes po so how do we do it? What are we doing to address it apparently? So in the long run, how do you change the mindset of these people and worse, they may even encourage some people around them now? Oh, this is a lucrative business, so how? Do you finish that kind of cycle? Okay, so this is where the wonderful partnership with civil society organizations and NOS comes into play. We were lucky to meet each other.

There is an NGO called Fundación bis. I'm not sure if anyone has heard of them where they are based and what they do is those um Osa and trafficking victims who reintegrate into society, then they partner with the private sector and try to train these reintegrated victim moms and train them so that they can become employable partners of the private sector, so as uhad mentioned, the dswd is also doing their part, who are helping and have that type of program, so we were able to visit B to help call center agents for soap victims. but then you know, they were saying that we are always here for you and you can always come back, you know, keep moving forward, so that's just one of the many programs that other NOS are also doing after the incident.

Poverty is one of the biggest drivers of this crime. The president said yesterday that poverty is not an excuse to hurt children. M that this Pia goerz ABS CBN okay general man um asking again, AI generated exploitation materials, although you said reports, but how seriously? Is the PNP and the government looking at this and also are they vulnerable with this new type of technology and what is the government doing regarding this generated AI? Even other countries are still developing the tool to actually identify an ENC, so we are still developing that tool, uh, we are very serious, we, really, umeng later, um, under the darkness, we are trying to really find a step forward and then, um, then, we generated, we're really doing everything, covert and, in investigation, I trained. with the tools, we are still waiting for the tools, but we are doing continuous training for the generated AI and other AI materials for C so when we already have the tools or the technology is already implemented, then it will be too much.

It's already late, trainings and then the tool, um, we are, we are waiting for that one for the law enforcement side to cum, we are waiting for that one, last week I was able to join the virtual global task force that is already training officers of the order. identification but tools um another topic oh wait before moving on to another topic okay, it's yours related to this um Sam, yes Sam, adilia, trading mirror for transactions, transaction report purely related or can other other illegal activities amount to the how covered persons reported it. narrative report of amlc was labeled as child pornography before, but it is like that, only in the primary way to carry out transactions of millions of pesos Banks of services, so amlc is mainly money or is generated from money or remittances from banks of services, is there any measure to regulate?

This well um uh our AMLC has done studies so it includes studies that indicate red flags of what could constitute what could constitute money transactions, for example, money in small amounts that is now coming from um from abroad. to someone in the Philippines. little by little every day from that certain person or from someone from abroad, small amount, but to different people in the Philippines, so those are some, it is difficult, but those could be warning indicators that that type of crime is in course, so, according to the law too. po, we are waiting for PO the guidelines for the amlc so that we can properly guide payment system providers on what constitutes red flags and what possible money transactions could be um OA last question reporting on my social media or Telos regarding To that, closing PO is different from withdrawing.

So when you say close ntcs, delete, you just delete the OPP po stuff, so, I have data, I'll go and flip through my notes for that, but hold on, thanks, okay, we'll get back to you because we're running out of time. um, let's go back to Alvin basar Raj Pilipinas another topic Mam Mam SOS. I can now answer the question. um soak and NCC. We have our cyber council. Monitoring. Center so we have intelligence agents there so since August 2023 and we eliminate the cases using the meta meta portal which is Facebook I 81 81 I take materials okay Santos no 25 uhad is itpossible to act 1193 um Republic act 11930 we are just um um theology then, but then the basics generated are already in the law, so just to build on what uh General said no um because there are some Internet intermediaries um systems in place, a real child participation if it is happening, but they are telling us their system does not yet recognize AI generated children, so I guess that is what colonel general manalad PO is saying is that they are trying to improve or update their system to recognize these images of children generated by I um, uh, uh, can you consider it ascra 1193? life sentence uh umons hundreds of millions very lucrative facilitator or perpetrator when it comes to financial games okay the last Nang po um easy perpetrator um to add to that there is no PO we actually have uh the department of justice actually issued a memorandum uh circular no um directing all our prosecutors vehemently oppose M Affidavit of withdrawal that was executed by the child or the family or the guardians, so in reality it is also as indicated by law B Affidavit of attendance is fine niso DZ A we have time for just a few more questions oh uh conv2 of about 750 cases uh so it's a very high conviction rate, again, primarily because of the case construction approval rule, so along with the police and prosecutors, with the new memorandum circular, sorry, Department circular, which requires hand-to-hand coordination. between the police and the prosecutors we have obtained a very good conviction rate, however, the number of cases that have been filed alone is not satisfactory to us so far in terms of the conviction rate and at least we know that we have a good mechanism at hand.

We still need to increase the number of cases brought to court. Can we entertain ourselves? Yes.let P move on P ABS CBN issue you can watch former senator trillian said he has information that ICC investigators are already in communication with current and former PNP officials in relation to their ongoing investigation into the previous administration's war on drugs, is the Department of Justice aware of it? Well, we have not received the same information, just like everyone else, we found out from Senator Janes about this supposed development, but I think we have been consistent from the beginning that we have a justice system that works here in the Philippines as much as possible.

It shows in many different cases and reforms that we have been carrying out and the commitment has never been stronger to prevent and hold accountable those who report law enforcement officers who participate in this crime. Say no to extrajudicial killings so even without verifying the information the government's stance is consistent since then the president has been very firm in saying that we will not recognize the jurisdiction of the IC because in fact we have a very good um and a system of justice solid following that sir um since the Philippines will not cooperate in the ICC investigation that covers government officials and also means cooperating in a personal capacity if I can IC well um as mentioned by the attorney general um this is a government policy , so when a government official or official is coordinating with the IC against government direction or orders and policy, there may be liability involved, so you know if there is any law enforcement. or a government official who goes against the policies and orders of the authorities in office, then obviously there will be some kind of conflict of interest, there will be responsibilities and definitely responsibilities that come with it, what about retired officials sir, Well, are they acting? in their civilian capacity or in their personal capacity, then of course we have little to hold over them, no, however, again, we will not recognize anything that arises from that conversation or coordination with them, sir, there are certain provisions.

According to Republic Act 6713, which is the conduct of public officials, so these are ethical guidelines followed by all public officials and obviously if you go against the policy, you will be found under those Provisions, no, responsibilities, thank you, thank you, Alvin. basar R Pilipinas Mike please Eden asano other mothers uh like any update on the legal process currently going on in the case of Pastor Apollo KOLO Me this refusal to submit uh to the Jurisdiction of the Court well obviously the defendant or the accused You have to present your person before the court so that it can assert its jurisdiction and subject you to other processes in accordance with the law.

At the moment there are two arrest warrants pending for the two cases of child abuse and qualified trafficking um just as an update, we have also transferred the cases from Dava to the city of passage um so that the same team of prosecutors can prosecute both cases together and together no um, we are still, obviously, he is still at large So law enforcement officials are still vigilant and have continued operations to be able to arrest him based on the orders issued by the court. He is still a fugitive according to the information he has. Yes. I have information that he is still inside the country unless there are new developments from the police.

No, but as far as our information at the Department of Justice is concerned, he is currently still in the country. How about the Bantag case and so on? Obviously there is an international component to the TS case. No, he is now arrested and in police custody in Teor Lee. However, we are awaiting the decision of the courts there as we have already submitted the extradition request to the NBI. When they arrived at Teor Lee, actually that operation was a success because when they arrived at Teor Lee, 2 hours after their arrival, Tas's arrest happened um, no and them returning home without him is not a failed operation, in fact , Yes it was. successful because the only responsibility of the authorities, especially the NBI director, was to arrest him, so it was a success.

I think the director was just being humble when he said they weren't cooperating there, but they weren't, it wasn't theirs anymore. responsibility it is the responsibility of the legal team now to go through the process to extradite him or deport him back to the Philippines, so you know, with these things we just have to be patient, we are dotting all the eyes, crossing all the tees to make sure that we follow the right process, we gave the defendant a duw process so that there is nothing that can be attributed to the government that says we didn't do it, we took shortcuts and all that, so we have taken every possible process to achieve it. and now we are here at the end, once he returns here in the Philippines, we hope that he will gather the courage to finally face the charges against him in court.

We already have a general idea of ​​his whereabouts, so it's just a matter of time. Again with these things we just have to be patient these things don't happen overnight the wheels of Justice grind slowly but they grind very finely so we just have to be patient thank you and no thank you okay I think that's it Okay, last question, Julie. Arelio asks, yes, okay, Mike, can you please request Akbayan that the Department of Justice issue a full exit order against Kiboy, what do you have to say about that request? Thank you, yes that has been brought up and I believe the prosecutors have already presented it. your motion not to issue a full departure order, these are normal legal processes that prosecutors are very accustomed to, so once you have a defendant or a defendant, that is a flight risk, especially given the resources that has this person, then the professional prosecutors are very diligent in making sure that doesn't happen.

They know that they, the accused, can leave the country without facing the accusations in the proper forum. But so far, sir, he is paying attention to the bulletin. del bi yes yes thank you sir okay thank you for all the questions malakyan press cor and again about the oai and the cism the president would like to call another meeting next month so we should probably hear another update on that thank you General manalad as clavano and the lawyer doj magay and U mam Sal Malak press score good afternoon oh