DILG denounces US’ HRV tag; FB censure of Esperon

THE Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has denounced the US State Department’s 2021 Country Report on Human Rights Practices that it released recently, claiming abuses by Philippine state security forces, describing it as “sweeping, rhetorical, and unfounded.”

“The said report, which is a mere repetition of unsubstantiated accusations against Philippine security forces that were loosely picked up from the traditional and social media, paints a grim picture of the country’s peace and order situation that is so far removed from the realities on the ground,” said DILG secretary Eduardo M. Año, himself a highly-respected former Armed Forces chief of staff.

“The operations of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) down to the grassroots level have led to dramatic improvement of the general peace and security situation in the country since 2016,” the DILG chief pointed out, in a statement released by his office last April 19, 2022.

“Therefore, the report belittles the hard work and sacrifice of the men and women of the PNP and the AFP who have been risking their lives to fulfill their sworn duty to fight criminality and illegal drugs,” Año added.

The US State Department released its ‘2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices’ last April 12, 2022 (see the link here: 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – United States Department of State).

“We join the Department of National Defense in posing a challenge to the US Department of State to substantiate their accusations so that we can properly address them through our internal mechanisms and the courts,” he added further.

Año was referring to the response of defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana last week, also demanding that the US disclosed the “details” of its accusations against the country. In their absence, Lorenzana described the report as akin to a “witch hunt.”

Malacañan, for its part, chided the US government, saying the report is clearly a product of America’s “infirmed intelligence gathering” (see also Pinoy Exposé, Volume 3, Issue No. 15).

In a separate statement the next day, April 20, 2022, the DILG also joined the chorus of those denouncing Facebook, an American-owned social media platform, for issuing a warning to National Security Adviser (NSA) Hermogenes Esperon that his post calling on Filipinos to unite against terrorists, particularly, against the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), violates FB’s “standards.”

The DILG said FB’s action, most likely due to the instigation of its “biased fact-checkers,” is both “unthinkable” and downright offensive.”

“The imprudence of FB to warn Secretary Esperon on a national security issue is unthinkable and downright offensive as the social media platform has taken on the role of Big Brother with the power to censure the social media posts of the NSA himself on matters of national security,” the DILG said.

“This move of FB is alarming, if not dangerous, as it has appointed itself as an omnipotent force that can censure at their discretion — based on standards that they themselves created — the legitimate posts of highly respected officials of the country,” it added.

NPC chides FB, turns table on ‘fact checkers’

For its part, the National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC), one of the country’s oldest but biggest organization of active members of the press, in a statement on April 19, 2022, called on the responsible agencies of the government to act on FB’s warning to Esperon, saying it is a clear violation of any Filipino’s freedom of expression.

“The warning given by Facebook to Secretary Esperon last April 14, 2022, with the veiled threat that his personal account would be shut down the next time he ‘violated’ their ‘standards’ is alarming as Facebook now appears to be the self-appointed ‘guardian’ of what is and what is not the truth and factual on anything posted in its platform.

“This is plain censorship and a violation of Article 3 (Bill of Rights) in our Constitution,” said NPC President Paul M. Gutierrez.

“Unless put in its proper place that it is just another foreign company allowed to do business here in our country, we can expect more and more act of censorship to be committed by Facebook,” Gutierrez said, adding:

“If Facebook has the boldness to threaten our national security adviser and to question the factualness of his posts regarding terrorism and our national security situation, then woe to the rest of us. And our question is: What is the government going to do next?”

Gutierrez also called on Facebook to immediately dismiss the services of Rappler Philippines and Vera Files as among its ‘fact checkers’ noting that both entities are themselves of doubtful credibility. Both are confirmed to have received foreign funding, particularly from the United States.

“Accepting foreign funding by any Filipino-owned media company is strictly banned by the Constitution,” reminded Gutierrez.

“Surely fact-checkers heavily indebted to foreign money and their corporate sponsors for their operations and survival cannot be expected to be factual and objective in any of their activities purportedly aimed at enlightening the public on matters of interest to them,” he added.

He noted that on so many occasions, Facebook has warned or taken down group and individual accounts based on the fact-checking reports by Rappler and Vera Files.

Gutierrez also called on the government to look into reports that ahead of the coming May 9, 2022 elections, Facebook also planned to put up an ‘Election Monitoring Center’ that he said is a clear interference in the country’s domestic affairs.

“What is the interest of Facebook in creating this center? Why does it appear to be very much interested in our domestic affairs when it is of no concern to their business,” Gutierrez asked.

“Is Facebook now taking the cudgels for Rappler’s effort to influence our elections after the NPC and the OSG managed to suspend its MOA with the COMELEC,” Gutierrez asked further.