MANILA, Philippines — Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Spokesperson Celine Pialago on Wednesday filed cyberlibel complaints against two social media pages for “malicious and fake” posts.
Pialago said she filed complaints against the administrators of Facebook page Pinoy Laugh Page and Twitter page Barurot News for posting: “MMDA to commuters: Kung wala kayong masakyan, huwag na lang kayo magtrabaho [If you can’t find a ride, then don’t go to work]” which she said is a “fake news.”
“We never said this, I never said this, even mga opisyal natin, walang nagsabi nito. [Even our MMDA officials did not say this.] This is technically and obviously a fake news, false statement,” Pialago told reporters in an interview after filing the cyberlibel complaints before the Philippine National Police (PNP) Anti-Cybercrime Group Headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
Pialago clarified that she is not after those who shared the alleged fake post as they are only victims of alleged fake posts by social media pages.
“Hindi po ako after dun sa mga bilang ng nag-like and share kasi biktima din sila ng fake news, kaya ko lang ni-re-report para makaiwas [sa fake news],” she said.
[I am not after those who liked and shared the post because they are victims of fake news. I am reporting this so that we can avoid dissemination of fake news.]
PNP-ACG will help in identifying contributors and administrators of the social media pages by tracking down the internet protocol (IP) address and location of the said page, Pialago said.
Pialago said the fake posts will affect her performance as a MMDA spokesperson as the public may think the posts are true.
“Ang apekto ng maling balita, gusto nila magalit yung tao sa amin. This will affect me and my performance in a sense na kahit anong sabihin natin nagkakaroon ng bias yung mga kabababayan natin and eventually mapapaniwala sila ng mga kasinungalingan na ito,” she said.
[The effect of these fake news, they want the public to hate us. This will affect me and my performance in a sense that anything we say will create bias and people will eventually believe these lies.]
Coordinate with Facebook
Col. Ramon Roque Gamboa, chief of PNP-ACG Cybercrime Response Unit, said they will work with Facebook to take down the posted fake news.
“Maybe we will ask them to take down that account para ma-stop din yung post immediately [so that we can stop the posts immediately]. Meron naman kaming close communications sa Facebook [We have close communications with Facebook],” Gamboa told reporters at PNP-ACG Headquarters.
Gamboa also warned those who will publish the fake news as the PNP can track them down and make arrests.
“Sa mga nagpopost ng ganun, we are warning you na don’t make that kasi mahuhuli din naman kayo,” he said.
[For those publishing fake news, we are warning you don’t make that because we will hunt you down.]. /muf