MANILA, Philippines —The Philippine National Police has filed another criminal complaint, this time against a 19-year-old woman for spreading unverified reports on social media.
Operatives of the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) filed the complaint at the Baguio City prosecutor’s office on Friday against Cherry Ann Pineda of San Fernando, Pampanga.
The complaint stemmed from her Aug. 19 post on Facebook warning the public about kidnappings of children and women in Barangay Trancoville, Baguio City — more than 180 kilometers from her residence in San Fernando — involving a green van with license plate XMM 507 and white van with license plate VXM 351.
Pineda said her post was allegedly sourced from a police station “for awareness.” She told the public to spread the post and to be “extra careful,” especially those going home late at night.
However, William Regacho, barangay chair of Trancoville, and the Baguio police station both certified that based on their records, there were no incidents of kidnappings in their areas of responsibility.
Since last month, the PNP has been running after spreaders of “fake news” amid the supposed crime wave in the country, prompted by the rise of reported abductions and killings on social media.
When he assumed office in August, Brig. Gen. Joel Doria, director of the ACG, directed all commanders to intensify the conduct of cyberpatrolling on social media to monitor all videos and posts spreading of unvalidated reports.
Information sabotage
“Information sabotage or unvalidated reports posted in social media should not be tolerated as it creates a feeling of panic in the community,” he said.
PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said that although most of these had long been solved, “social media reports of these incidents had been recycled and rehashed lately, unduly fueling public hysteria over a nonexistent wave of crime.”
On Thursday, the Caloocan police also filed the same complaint against 19-year-old Samantha Pargad, who earlier reported that she was almost abducted by a motorcycle-riding man, which turned out to be untrue.
The Quezon City Police District on Friday said it was also readying to file the same complaint against James Aldrich Amora, a Sangguniang Kabataan councilor of Barangay Sangandaan, and blogger Eric Batac.
On Aug. 24, Amora posted on Facebook about an alleged abduction of two girls by people in a white van. Police declared the post as a hoax following an investigation. He later posted a public apology on his Facebook account on Sept. 5.
Batac, meanwhile, claimed on his Facebook account that a suspect in a stabbing on Sept. 19 would be released by the police after the victim was not able to give his statement.
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