The Philippine National Police (PNP) is maintaining a total of 1,585 social media pages and networking sites in a bid to boost its interactions with the communities in terms of peace and order, and recently on the response to the Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19).
In the aftermath of the decision of Facebook to take down fake accounts and pages sharing fake news and inciting hate and misbehavior that were associated with the police and the military, PNP chief General Camilo Pancratius Cascolan said all of these accounts are now being monitored to ensure that the administrators comply with the police guidelines on the use of the social media.
“I expressed to members of the House of Representatives the strong-willed commitment of the PNP to strictly observe prescribed guidelines and procedures in all public engagements, particularly through social networking sites and social media platforms,” said Cascolan in a press briefing on Monday, referring to the budget hearing which he attended last week.
“I assured our honorable congressmen that disciplinary sanctions shall be imposed upon any PNP member who willfully violate the rules and regulations embodied in the PNP Social Media Policy,” he added.
The PNP Social Media Policy is embodied in a Memorandum Circular that prescribes the Guidelines and Procedures on Social Media Content, Post and Engagement Utilizing Official Social Media Accounts and Individual Accounts of PNP Personnel.
During the time of PNP chief Oscar Albayalde, the PNP protocol was used in imposing discipline on PNP personnel who trolled him on social media.
Cascolan said all the PNP-maintained social media accounts and pages are being monitored by the National Headquarters.
“PNP units maintaining these social networking sites are constantly reminded to strictly observe PNP Rules on social media use, and cautioned against libelous posts and content that may trigger cyber-bullying, and those that infringe on civil rights that protect data privacy, intellectual property and confidentiality of information,” said Cascolan.
Mostly inactive
Most of the 1,585 social media pages and networking sites (as of October 4, 2020) are not actively engaging with the public, according to Cascolan.
Of the figure, PNP data analytics revealed that barely 25 percent of them can be considered as actively engaging the netizens through regular police-related posts and responding to queries and complaints.
The Facebook page and networking sites are mostly created and being run by policemen at the municipal and police station levels. Other PNP units also maintain their respective social media accounts.
Reply
Following the takedown of the sites tagged as propaganda tools of the police and the military, Cascolan said they immediately sent a letter to Facebook’s Rob Abrams to seek a list of purported PNP-linked accounts that were shutdown due to alleged ‘coordinated inauthentic behavior’.
Abrams is the Trust and Safety Manager for Asia Pacific of Facebook Singapore.
“Incidentally, in response to our concern, we received a reply from Mr. Rob Abrams acknowledging our correspondence with implied assurance of availability of the requested information upon compliance of certain internal requisites,” said Cascolan.
“We have yet to hear from Facebook again since then but we are confident of their favorable response to our request,” he added.
Anger
Both the PNP and the military leaderships denied that they are maintaining accounts that are engaged in what Facebook describes as “coordinated inauthentic behavior” that includes engaging in partisan politics in support of some local politicians, posting and sharing unverified information against some groups and personalities that are being labeled as communists and terrorists.
Incidentally, a few government officials have been using their own social media accounts to demonize groups and personalities criticizing the Duterte administration, the recent were the issue on the passage of the Anti-Terror Law wherein a female government officials branded protesting students of the University of the Philippines as terrorists and the controversial dumping of dolomites at the Manila Bay.
Last week, President Duterte threatened to shut down Facebook after the shut down of the fake accounts. Some lawmakers allied to the President, on the other hand, are calling for an investigation.