Lawmakers ask NBI to probe ‘hired’ trolls

DAMAGING PROBE The quad committee probe has not only hurt crime rings but also Vice President Sara Duterte. —Grig C. Montegrande

MANILA, Philippines — The head of the House of Representatives’ quad committee has asked the National Bureau of Investigation to probe vloggers who were allegedly hired to discredit and spread disinformation against the super panel’s co-chairpersons and members.

Robert Ace Barbers, lead chairperson of the quad committee, on Sunday said he wrote NBI Director Jaime Santiago to ask the bureau to go after vloggers who were allegedly funded by Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) and illegal drug traders.

The Surigao del Norte representative asked the NBI to identify, probe and file charges against the vloggers who allegedly spread lies on various social media platforms targeting the quad committee heads and members.

READ: House quad committee’s probe results in spy bills

The quad committee is made up of the committees on dangerous drugs, which Barbers chairs; public order and safety, chaired by Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez; public accounts, headed by Abang Lingkod party list Rep. Stephen Joseph Paduano; and human rights led by Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr.

The super panel was created to look into the possible link of Pogos with extrajudicial killings in the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, the illegal drug trade and other syndicated crimes.

Meant to disinform

According to Barbers, the disinformation campaign being carried out by the vloggers, “not only damages the integrity of public service but also foster an environment of confusion, distrust and deception of public perception.”

In his Nov. 25 letter to Santiago, Barbers also asked the NBI to secure and preserve all digital evidence related to the vloggers, including metadata, upload details and related activity logs.

Barbers submitted to the bureau evidence consisting of several vlogs from the different social media platforms, including one that apparently emanated from his province and claimed that he and his brother, Surigao del Norte Gov. Lyndon Barbers, had links to the narcotics trade.

“It’s very obvious that these vloggers were well-organized and paid to ruin my name, my brother’s name and those of the quad committee members,” he remarked in Filipino, adding that there was information that the vloggers were part of a group specifically paid to spread lies.

Backed by syndicates

The lawmaker alleged, “Maybe their employers, Pogos and drug lords, are already hurting from the continuing quad committee investigations.”

Barbers said that the NBI should file the appropriate criminal charges in relation to Republic Act No. 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, once the vloggers have been identified and their vlogs established.

The lawmaker wrote Santiago that the crimes of libel, sedition, conspiracy to commit sedition, incriminating an innocent person and intriguing against honor in the Revised Penal Code in relation to Section 6 of RA 10175 could be filed against the vloggers.

Barbers expressed confidence on the expertise and commitment of the NBI’s Cybercrime Division to address cyber-related offenses, particularly those aimed at disrupting and discrediting lawful and transparent public processes, as well as its capability to protect and uphold the integrity of the quad committee and its members.