But relatives of the man, Reomel Ramones, said they believe the real culprit may be a third person.

But relatives of the man, Reomel Ramones, said they believe the real culprit may be a third person who lived in the apartment--the girlfriend's unemployed sister, who recently graduated from a computer school that a U.S. security firm has linked to the "Love Bug" virus. Investigators entered the apartment in Pandacan, a lower-middle-class Manila neighborhood, and seized computer diskettes, wires, telephones and other computer accessories. No one was home at the time of the raid, but Ramones later returned and was arrested by agents from the country's National Bureau of Investigation. His girlfriend was contacted by investigators and promised to appear at NBI headquarters, NBI chief Federico Opinion said. Local radio reports said Ramones denied any involvement with the virus. An investigator said Ramones had "opted to remain silent." No charges were immediately filed against Ramones, Opinion said. By law, charges must be filed within 36 hours. Philippine investigators were faced with a difficult task because their country has few laws tailored to high-tech computer crimes. Although Ramones works in the computer department of a bank, he is an accounting graduate and his specialty is computer hardware, not software, his relatives said. They said the computer in the apartment was almost always locked in the room of the third resident, the 23-year-old sister of Ramones' girlfriend. The sister recently graduated in computer engineering from the Philippines' AMA Computer College.