AFP: No reason for Cabales to face sanction over shut Facebook accounts

MANILA, Philippines — The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has absolved Cpt. Alexandre Cabales, the Army man tagged as one of the operators of social media pages taken down by Facebook due to “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”

AFP spokesperson Maj. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said in a televised briefing that Cabales did not violate any social media policy of the military and that his social media posts were “real” and “authentic.”

“At this point, wala tayong nakikita na kadahilanan upang humarap sa sanction si Captain Cabales because so far ang nakikita natin sa mga pino-post n’ya ay real, authentic and shared news buhat sa mga lehitimong public information offices ng Sandatahang Lakas ng Pilipinas,” Arevalo said.

(At this point, we do not see any reason for Captain Cabales to face any sanction because so far, what we see in his posts are real, authentic and shared news coming from legitimate public information offices of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.)

Facebook earlier said it shut down over 100 fake accounts and pages linked to the Philippine military and police for “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”

According to Facebook’s community standards, inauthentic behavior refers to the use of multiple accounts to “mislead people” or the users had fictitious names of individuals and groups.

Cabales, who is in charge of the AFP’s “social media presence,” is associated with the page Hands Off Our Children which was among the pages shut down by Facebook.

‘Breach of identity, personal security’

Arevalo also condemned how Cabales’ name was disclosed as one of the operators of the pages closed by Facebook saying it was a “breach” of identity and personal security.

“Dapat sigurong bisitahin ng Facebook ‘yung kanilang privacy policy o kung hindi man Facebook, itong grupo ng Digital Forensics Laboratory na naglabas ng pangalan ni Captain Cabales,” Arevalo said.

(Perhaps Facebook should revisit their privacy policy or if not Facebook, the group of Digital Forensics Laboratory which disclosed the name of Captain Cabales.)

“This is a breach of his personal identity and personal security…Nalalagay po sa alanganin hindi lamang ang kanyang buhay kundi pati ‘yung kapakanan at reputasyon niya sa mata ng kanyang pamilya, sa mata ng kanyang komunidad at sa lipunan na ginagalawan ng kanyang pamilya,” he added.

(This is a breach of his personal identity and personal security…His life was not only put in danger but also his reputation to the eyes of his family, his community, and the society where his family lives.)

It was a US-based group called Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab which disclosed the name of Cabales as among those linked in the accounts shut by Facebook.

Apart from pages supposedly operated by the military and police, Facebook also took down pages traced to individuals in China that were in support of President Rodrigo Duterte and the possible presidential bid of his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.

Both the military and the police have disowned the said fake Facebook accounts.

KGA