Four vloggers were charged criminally before the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday, April 22, for allegedly spreading fake news on social media on the statements made by National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Jaime B. Santiago.

Those charged were identified in the complaint as Maricel Tondi, Jennifer Dela Cruz, Jacinta Cayme Anatusada, and Cherry Lyn David who are all based abroad. One of them, reports stated, is now in the Philippines.

In the referral letter addressed to Prosecutor General Richard Anthony D. Fadullon and signed by Santiago, the NBI recommended that the four be prosecuted for violating the Revised Penal Code (RPC), particularly the use of alias under Article 178; unlawful means of publication and unlawful utterances under Article 154; intriguing against honor under Article 364; and inciting to sedition under Article 142 -- all in relation to Section 6 of Republic Act (RA) No. 10175, the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

“The respondents herein deliberately disseminated false information which they made it appear that the NBI Director threatened to arrest all OFW (overseas Filipino workers) when in fact the statement of the NBI Director was only pertaining to arrest criminals, upong filing cases, who may be based overseas and not to the entire OFW community which the respondents herein intended,” the NBI said.

The charges stemmed from a video posted on April 7 and 8 on the social media platforms Tiktok and Facebook that was titled “Pananakot ang bagong administrasyon ngayon. OFW ang mga bagong bayani bakit ninyo tinatakot? (Threats is what the new administration does. Our new heroes are OFWs but why are they being threatened?)”

The video showed Santiago saying: “Yung mga andito sa Pilipinas arestohin namin! Yong mga nasa abroad will file a case di na sila makakauwi dito, hindi na sila makakadalaw sa mga pamilya nila, pag dating palang sa NAIA aarestohin na namin sila (Those who are here in the Philippines we will arrest. Those who are abroad we will file a case against them so that they can’t return home and see their families. Once they arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport we will arrest them).”

However, the NBI said the original statement that Santiago concerns the laws violated by online trolls.

It said Director Santiago remarked: “Pinupukpok ko na aking Technical Intelligence Division, ang ating Cybercrime Division na umaksyon na, sobra na itong mga trolls sobra na, kabastusan na pinaggagawa. Meron isa tutumbuking ko yun maharlika at nandun sya sa Amerika tira, tira nang tira but then pinapalabas dito sa Pilipinas right? Therefore, pwede siyang kasuhan dito sa Pilipinas (I have been prodding our Technical Intelligence Division and Cybercrime Division to take action against trolls who have been doing too much. I will take action against this person in America who likes to criticize but makes it appear that the person is in the Philippines. Therefore, we can file cases here in the Philippines).

“Hihingi kami ng tulong sa Interpol arestuhin nyo nga yang lokong yan dyan at dalhin dito sa Pilipinas. ‘Yung mga nandito sa Pilipinas arestuhin namin, yung mga nasa abroad we will file case ‘di na sila makakauwi dito, ‘di na sila makakadalaw sa pamilya nila pagdating palang sa NAIA arrestuhin na namin sila. (We will ask the International Criminal Police Organization to bring them back to the Philippines. Those in the Philippines we will arrest, those abroad we will file a case so they can’t return to the Philippines and no longer see their family and when they arrive at the NAIA we will immediately arrest them)”

The NBI said: “Clearly the intention of herein respondents to splice and edit the video/statement of NBI Director Jaime B. Santiago is purely an attack against him.”

“The content was not even supported by any proof and instead they omitted important contents in the statement deliberately and ill-motivatedly altered the video to the discredit of the NBI Director in order to mislead the public,” the bureau pointed out.