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election campaign period, gun ban in effect
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congratulations Marked Men for Christ Philippines 565th batch Seminar, January 30,31,February 1,2025, Kabaleyan Cove, San Carlos City, Pangasinan, looking forward to next batch July 16,2025, Baguio City
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Deepest sympathy to the family of the late Lourdes Co, her remains lies in St. Peter Chapels , Sucat, Paranaque
Congratulations to new set of interim officers of Luzon Convention of Southern Baptist Churches, Inc.-Servants of God in Christ Jesus Christian Ministries, Inc -moderator Dr. Enrico San Pedro Phd; Executive Secretary Jorge Lopez, Treasurer Rev. Nestor Sadim, Public Relation Officer Rev. Manuel Soliman
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Arrest of 4 vloggers for House probe snub looms
By Nidz Godino
“Mr. Chairman, with this blog made by Mr. Mark Lopez, this is in violation of once again section 11 paragraph F of our internal rules, undue interference during proceedings or committee investigation,” Abang Lingkod party-list Rep. Stephen Paduano said House tri-committee has cited in contempt and ordered arrest of four social media personalities for snubbing subpoena issued to them.
Tech giant Meta, attending tri-comm hearing, pledged to support Congress’ crackdown on fake news online.
On motion by Paduano, those cited in contempt for violation of Section 11, Paragraph A of internal rules of tri-comm were Allan Troy “Sass” Rogando Sasot, Mark Anthony Lopez, Lorraine Marie Tablang Badoy-Partosa and Jeffrey Almendras Celiz.
Sasot, Lopez and Badoy were absent despite multiple summons and subpoenas issued for them to attend hearing. Lopez, attended previous hearing, was cited for issuing public statements attacking the committee.
If arrested, Sasot, Badoy and Celiz will be detained at detention facility of House until committee hearing is terminated, while Lopez will be detained for 10 days.
Committee adopted motion without objection.
Paduano earlier cited Lopez for violating internal rules on undue interference in congressional inquiries.
He quoted portions of Lopez’s blog, saying it sought to discredit the panel.
“It was blatantly used that there was concerted effort to humiliate us and bring us down on our knees,even mainstream media are gleefully celebrating and pouncing on our forced breakdown and takedown in tri-comm hearing,” Paduano read.
Paduano said Lopez had been warned during previous session.
“I already warned all those resource persons be cautious not to issue statements maligning, attacking ongoing investigation,” Paduano said.
Paduano first cited Sasot for repeatedly refusing to attend hearings.
“Since four invitations already and that includes subpoena ad testificandum for Ms. Sasot, may I respectfully move, Mr. Chairman, that we cite in contempt Ms. Sasot,” Paduano said.
He also moved to have government agencies verify her whereabouts.
Celiz, according to Paduano, was also served multiple notices.
“Subpoena ad testificandum was also issued to Celiz…and invitation, show-cause order, subpoena and subpoena ad testificandum was issued to him but still he is not present in today’s hearing,” Paduano said.
Badoy was cited in contempt as well, despite submitting travel documents indicating she is in Hong Kong.
Tri-comm is composed of House committees on public information, public order and safety and information and communications technology.
It is conducting series of hearings into role of social media in coordinated spread of disinformation and narrative manipulation.
Tri-comm approved issuance of another subpoena to Marijane Quiambao Reyes, Aaron Pena, Ernesto Abines, Jr. and Elmer Hugalbot to attend next hearing.
Paduano said Abines and Hugalbot failed to attend yesterday’s hearing due to financial constraint.
“I would like this committee to address issue of financial capacity of Abines and Hugalbot…maybe, we will be one to purchase tickets for them, so that they will be present in the next hearing,” he said.
Paduano also moved for re-issuance of unserved subpoena to Catherine Binag, Claire Contreras, Lord Byron Cristobal, Jeffrey Cruz, Alex Distor, Edwin Jamora, Milanose Mawe, Joe Smith Medina, Cyrus Rredlo, Maricar Serrano and Ramon John Balostad.
According to Meta’s director of public policy for Southeast Asia Rafael Frankel, vlogger Mark Anthony Lopez, or Mark Lopez, claimed Philippine Coast Guard used water cannons against Chinese Coast Guard in West Philippine Sea, something that was rated false by Meta’s fact-checker.
“As you can see on the left side, this is the fact check, and on the right side, this is how content that would not appear on our platform with screen over it and warning along with label that explains this is false content,” he explained during hearing.
During previous tri-comm hearing in March, Lopez admitted to spreading fake news after being grilled by lawmakers.
Meta would support creation of Philippine regulatory committee for social media platforms.
“I’d be more than happy for Meta as company to engage with Philippine government and Congress on any type of regulations that you are considering when it comes to these issues, I think we have now many years of experience in terms of working with governments around Southeast Asia, Asia Pacific and globally to come up with modalities and regulations that really can help protect users but also protect freedom of expression, that try to properly balance freedom of expression and safety in Meta, and of course account for local nuance,” Frankel said.
In verifying content, Frankel said “we prioritize most severe harms first…it is not necessarily first in, first out content moderation system.”
“For example if we see that there are reports of child exploitative imagery, that’s going to jump all the way to the top of the queue…if we see reports of terrorism content, incitement of violence , those types of things, those are going to jump ahead because of potential to cause harm… type of process we use, when it comes to misinformation… what we can do is we can send contents for the fact checkers to check or fact-checkers can do it themselves…they have the ability not to wait for us and to actually check contents on their own…and what we see in the Philippines is they are very robust… I think we have some of the most robust fact-checkers in the world active in the Philippinesm” Frankel said.
Meta’s third-party fact-checkers in the Philippines are VERA Files, Rappler and Agence France-Presse.
House committee on information and communications technology vice chairman and Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel, presided over tri-comm hearing, labeled spread of fake news and misinformation on social media as crisis that must be addressed.
“Rapid evolution of technology and rise of digital communication platforms have transformed way we consume information…while these advancements have brought numerous benefits, they have also facilitated spread of false narratives, manipulated truths, and increasingly polarized public discourse,” Pimentel said.
Pimentel warned developments are not only damaging to individuals but also to institutions that support Philippine democracy.
Philippine Coast Guard spokesman on WPS Commodore Jay Tarriela, testified at the hearing, exposed “coordinated and malicious” fake news campaign on social media that defends China and aims to discredit Philippines’ position in WPS.
Tarriela said two Filipino vloggers Anna Malindog Uy and Ado Paglinawan have publicly posted content that amplifies pro-China disinformation.
Another vlogger, Vicente ‘Pebbles” Cunanan, testified at the hearing “Polvoron video,” supposedly showed President Marcos taking illegal drugs, was masterminded by former presidential spokesman Harry Roque.
“Roque said, ‘I can overthrow government..but I don’t believe him because he is now hiding…part of the plan that I heard is that they want to overthrow the President,” Cunanan said.
Meanwhile, Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop demanded greater accountability from Meta and other social media platforms for spread of fake news and harmful content.
“It seems from our discussion that social media platforms are making some efforts to curb spread of fake news in this country, I disagree with impression that acting merely as hosts of user-generated content exempts these platforms from any liability for harmful content they allow to be exhibited,” he said.
Broadcaster and former vice president Noli de Castro, attended hearing as resource person, also supported calls for greater accountability from social media platforms.
De Castro had been victim of several fake news, including hoax in 2021 that claimed he was already dead.
“Fortunately, for us media personalities, broadcasters, we can correct it immediately on air..but it’s pity on those who have no means to block or immediately correct fake news that are coming out against them,” he said.
For his part, former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares slammed countless lies and red-tagging disseminated on social media, as group held protest action at South Gate of House of Representatives.
“Red-tagging has endangered lives, silenced dissent and weaponized lies to justify harassment and even murder…those responsible for spreading fake news and vilifying activists, human rights defenders and journalists must be held to account, we are urging Congress to take firm stand by enacting laws that protect people from malicious labeling and disinformation…our democracy depends on ability of people to speak, organize, and dissent without fear of being targeted,” Colmenares said in statement.
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