Former president Rodrigo Duterte (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN) 

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte---Former senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson has told to police officers and soldiers to "remain professional and loyal to the country".

Lacson, a member of the Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas senatorial slate, made this appeal amid reported calls for partisan activity following the arrest and detention of former president Rodrigo Duterte by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The comebacking former senator along with the rest of the administration ticket were in town here Saturday, March 15 for a series of campaign sorties.

According to Lacson, the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) should double-check such calls especially those made through social media, because of the proliferation of fake news.

"They should remain professional and loyal to their duty. That is the best message," he said in Filipino in an interview on DZRH radio.

"In this day and age of information technology, fake news spreads fast. And we know that is in their training to conduct fact-checking first. If there are reports of partisan activity, they should not get involved," he added.

Lacson had served in the AFP as a member of the Philippine Constabulary (PC) from 1971 to 1991. He also served as PNP chief from 1999 to 2001.

Meanwhile, Lacson says he is studying possible legislation to crack down on fake news. He noted the current laws against cyber-libel may need more teeth.

Unless laws are strengthened against fake news and cyber-libel, he said these threats may undermine our culture and destroy good manners and right conduct.

"We must focus on penalizing the spread of fake news. This threatens our culture, and contributes to the destruction of our good manners and right conduct," he said.

On Tuesday morning, March 11, members of the International Police (Interpol) served an arrest warrant against Duterte in Manila. The former leader is facing a charge of crimes against humanity before the ICC at The Hague in connection with his bloody war on drugs. 

Duterte remains very popular and is known to have fanatical followers.