Watchdog raises alarm over PNP clampdown on 'fake news' vloggers

MANILA, Philippines — Moves by the Philippine National Police to punish online content creators allegedly spreading disinformation to "destabilize" the Marcos administration should be viewed with caution due to the police's history of interfering with free speech, according to media watchdog Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR).

CMFR executive director Melinda Quintos De Jesus said that the PNP's crackdown on vloggers it accuses of spreading false information "presents the police as an arbiter of free expression" and a threat to the public's freedom of speech and expression — rights protected by the 1987 Constitution.

"The report about the police's intent to interfere with the media and the public forum creates a climate of fear. The PNP statement suggests that any police officer can interpret as destabilizing what an individual or group says in a political discussion on any media platform," De Jesus said.

Amid fresh denials by the country's security forces that they recently backed a destabilization plot against the president, PNP chief Benjamin Acorda has taken exception with one vlogger's use of his face in a video implying that the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have called for the president's resignation.

Leaders of both the PNP and AFP have denied supporting a destabilization plan against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., with PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo saying that while content creators have the right to free speech, "we are also asking them to spare the PNP." 

The PNP said that it will file criminal complaints against the vloggers and ask social media companies Facebook and YouTube to remove the "fake" destabilization plot videos, Fajardo said on Saturday.

De Jesus said that the police must go through the formal judicial process if it has evidence that a crime has been committed. 

"For a law enforcement agency to be involved in imposing limits to free expression is misuse or abuse of state power," she added.

"The involvement of the PNP in this issue is disturbing, to say the least. It recalls dark periods in our history when indeed the police with the military were at the forefront as guardians of a dictatorial