Batac City police chief under fire for terror tag on relief donors

MANILA, Philippines — The Batac City police chief will have to explain his station’s Facebook post, which branded relief donors and rally participants as terrorists.

Brig. Gen. Ildebrandi Usana, spokesperson for the Philippine National Police, said on Sunday night that the Batac City police may have taken down the post and apologized for the mistake but it did not spare him and his personnel from possible administrative liability.

The deleted Facebook post had asked “Who is a terrorist?” and had claimed that based on the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, you could be considered a terrorist when you: cause damage or attempt to cause damage to government properties or facilities; donate or help relief drives that aren’t government or state-recognized; participate in a rally or any movement that can cause a “serious risk to public safety;” and post, write, share and/or retweet posts (even memos) related to “terroristic activities.”

Apology

The infographic was posted on Friday and was circulated and drew flak from netizens on Sunday, which caused it to be taken down by the Batac City police.

On Sunday afternoon the Batac City police posted: “We apologize for the misleading information regarding the Anti-terror Bill the other day as it was erroneously posted. Rest assured that this won’t happen again because our main objective is to protect everyone against misleading information.”

“We will have this referred to the police regional office concerned and summon the chief of police to explain,” Usana said. INQ