DILG denounced Facebook for flagging the post of National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr.
DILG — On Tuesday, the Department of the Interior and Local Government denounced Facebook for flagging the post of National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. in which he urged Filipinos to unite in order to end the communist insurgency.
In a statement, Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya castigated Facebook “for their imprudence and audacity to issue a warning” to Esperon. According to him, this move of the social media giant is “alarming, if not dangerous” as it can “censure at their discretion” the posts of “highly respected officials of the country”.
Malaya, who is also the spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), also said that the imprudence of the social media giant to warn Esperon on a national security issue is “unthinkable and downright offensive”.
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Malaya added that they also find it questionable how the social media giant and its fact-checkers seem to be “overly focused in calling out and restricting the accounts of government officials while turning a blind eye to others”.
He then urged the social media giant to revisit and modify its standards that are “obviously one-sided and serve to promote the interests of the few and powerful.”
“Finally, we call on FB to stick to its goal of helping people connect and engage, and to leave national security matters to the experts,” Malaya said.
ABS-CBN News reported that Esperon has questioned Facebook after he received a warning for his post.
Last week, the National Security Adviser shared on his profile that Filipinos should unite against the armed struggle and all organizations that support the New People’s Army (NPA). The social media giant has said that it issued a warning on Esperon’s post because it “didn’t follow our standards”.
Facebook has yet to respond to the statement made by the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
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