‘Only at receiving end of conversation,’ UST alum tagged in leaked chat says

MANILA, Philippines— A University of Santo Tomas alumnus tagged in another leaked chat that shared women's photos and videos without their consent confirmed that an online drive of them existed but stressed he did not share any content with the group.

Alvin Kasiban, a graduate of UST and a photographer for a national daily, issued a statement on Friday through his Twitter account, which has since been set to private. He denied taking photos of minors but admitted he was one of the students in the group chat.

"In response to a circulating tweet accusing me to be involved in taking pictures of [underaged] women. I strongly deny that I have been doing such a thing or was I initiating the act of distributing nudes of underaged women and that the caption is way over than the evidence suggest," Kasiban wrote.

"But yes, I am the guy being talked to in screenshots of the conversation there and I fully take responsibility of my actions in the convo and there is no excuse for this kind of behavior."

Kasiban said that the chats documented through screenshots shared by an anonymous Twitter user happened in 2017.

"I was only at the receiving end of conversation and it was done two years ago when I was stupid and had no idea what being a man was about," he said.

He said he never asked for or collected private photos of underaged women or of women in general.

'I have grown into a much better person'

Despite his admission, Kabisan said “he have grown into a much better person who now fully understands that gravity of my past actions and that such thing should not be a norm here in social media or anywhere”

“This is thanks to my better friends and my female best friend who scolded me real hard and made me understand it all,” Kabisan said.

“Now, I'm very sorry to those who I have offended and did wrong through my past actions. Rest assured that I have been continuously growing and developing a better character and behavior towards these kind of matter,” he added.

Anonymous 'leaks_anon' on Twitter

On Thursday, an anonymous Twitter account with username “leaks_anon” claimed that some male students of UST repeatedly shared private photos and videos of students in a Facebook group chat without the women’s consent.

The online user alleged that the people supposedly in the group chat were Engineering students of UST. It also claimed that one of the members is a professor.

The supposedly leaked conversation also showed that the students had an online drive containing the photos and videos not just of UST students but also minors from other schools in Metro Manila.

The online user also countered Kabisan's claims that he did not share any photos of women as supposed screenshots of a leaked conversation with a certain "EZ" showed that he did take photos and share them.

Gabriela earlier condemned the sharing of the private photos and videos and urged the victims to come forward.

READ: Gabriela to help victims of chat group that shared their private photos, videos

“We strongly condemn this as we open our lines to the victims to discuss possible courses of action,” the women’s group said.

Under the Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act of 2009, capturing and sharing "an image of the private area of a person/s such as the naked or undergarment clad genitals, public area, buttocks or female breast without the consent of the person/s involved and under circumstances in which the person/s has/have a reasonable expectation of privacy."

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