MANILA, Philippines — Amid alleged links to a network of fake Facebook pages posting content critical of communism on military activities against terrorism, the Philippine military is looking to buttress its efforts against insurgency both online and with the national police, it said Thursday.
This comes after the social media giant's removal of "155 accounts, 11 Pages, 9 Groups and 6 Instagram accounts for violating our policy against foreign or government interference which is coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a foreign or government entity," according to Facebook's Head of Security Policy Nathaniel Gleicher.
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Although the military denied its hand in the smashed network, it also asked the social media giant to restore one page which it said was a "legitimate advocacy page."
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In a statement, the Armed Forces of the Philippines disclosed that Facebook's head of public policy in the Philippines Clare Amador reached out to Lt. Gen. Gilbert Gapay, AFP chief of staff, to discuss a possible partnership "in preventing terrorists’ exploitation of the internet."
“We seek an open and above-board partnership with social networking sites to prevent and counter the spread of violent extremism, without curtailing the rights of users to free expression and information,” Gapay said.
According to the AFP, private messaging apps continue to be utilized by terrorist elements as the first line of communications followed by personally mediated and face-to-face meetings in recruitment and radicalization.
Earlier, Gapay said that he wanted social media to be regulated in the implementing rules and regulations of the controversial Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, which has already seen at least 35 legal challenges before the Supreme Court.
One petition filed against the law said that it is the law itself that carries out what actual terrorists and corrupt government officials do: “Create a climate of fear, limit our liberties and freedoms, evade and pass accountability for their acts, and disrupt our supposedly democratic way of life.”
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PNP, AFP sign joint directive vs. insurgency
On Wednesday evening, the Philippine National Police also announced that it had signed a joint directive with the AFP outlining guidelines in internal security operations to "enhance" the agency's participation in efforts against communist insurgency.
Entitled "Guidelines in Evaluating the Effectiveness of Internal Security Operations in Support to the National Thrust to End Local Communist Armed Conflict," Joint Letter Directive No. 03 series of 2020 aims to further enhance the combined efforts against communist insurgency and terrorism in the country, the PNP said in a statement sent to reporters.
According to the agency's public information office, the military and the national police also signed a joint resolution that set the parameters in declaring communist guerilla fronts as weakened or dismantled.
"The signing of the Joint Letter Directive and Joint Resolution will collectively adopt all pursued cooperative efforts among the AFP and our organization to attain our goals with the end view of realizing the Filipino people’s aspirations for peace, security, stability and progress, and upholding their civil, political and human rights, under the rule of law," Police Gen. Camilo Cascolan, PNP chief, said.
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"While we must perform our primary responsibility to serve and protect our people, it is our duty to give our best to help the AFP in defending our country by providing maximum assistance and support to the AFP especially in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region," he said.
The PNP was also linked to the fake accounts taken down by Facebook for "coordinated inauthentic behavior," which the PNP said was an "unofficial and unauthorized" opinion that they "disowned." — with a report from Kristine Joy Patag