THE House tri committee yesterday subpoenaed political vloggers and social media personalities after they failed anew to attend the joint panel’s third hearing on the spread of fake news and disinformation despite receiving show cause orders.
On the motion of Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano (PL, Abang Lingkod), the joint panel issued a subpoena ad testificandum to the resource persons after receiving excuse letters for missing the hearing last February 4.
“There’s a motion to issue a subpoena to all those mentioned by the Honorable Paduano for not attending and answering the show cause order issued by the three committees. Duly seconded. Do I hear any objection from the members? Hearing none, the motion is carried,” said presiding chair Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop.
Subpoenaed were Trixie Cruz-Angeles, Krizette Laureta Chu, Sass Rogando Sasot, Mark Anthony Lopez, Lorraine Marie Badoy-Partosa, Jeffrey Almendras Celiz (Eric Celiz), Dr. Richard Mata, Ethel Pineda Garcia, Joie De Vivre (Elizabeth Joi Cruz), Aaron Peña, and Mary Jean Reyes.
The subpoena against Suzanne Batalla was deferred after she submitted a medical certificate explaining her absence.
The same group of vloggers and social media personalities earlier filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to stop the House of Representatives from compelling them to attend congressional hearings on disinformation and the proliferation of fake news.
Paduano said most resource persons gave similar justifications for their absence, citing their petition for certiorari before the High Court as their reason for defying the House.
The tri committee – which is composed of the Committees on Public Order, Public Information, and Communications Technology (ICT) – is looking to unmask peddlers of alleged “fake news” and disinformation and their supposed benefactors.
Paduano said Cruz-Angeles, a lawyer who has openly questioned the legitimacy of the congressional inquiry, was issued a show-cause order because of her actions against the panel.
“Firstly, the joint committee issued the show cause order against Atty. Angeles not because of her non-attendance but because of the content of the communication that she submitted before this committee, which directly challenges our jurisdiction to conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation,” he said.
Paduano reminded Angeles that as an officer of the court and a member of the legal profession, “she’s bound to respect and abide by the Constitution.”
He added that the joint panel has also directed the legal department to study and consider filing a possible disbarment case against her “because we believe that an officer of the court must conduct herself as a true advocate of law rather than being the one directly promoting its defiance.”
Citing jurisprudence, Paduano said legislative investigations cannot be stopped because of pending court cases.
“The mere filing of a criminal or administrative complaint before a court or quasi-judicial body should not automatically bar the conduct of legislative investigation,” he said, citing the Standard Chartered Bank vs. Senate case.
The tri comm also issued show-cause orders to the Philippine offices of Facebook and TikTok for their non-attendance in the hearings after Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez (Pl, 1-Rider) said the committee received a letter from White and Case on behalf of Meta stating that Facebook Philippines was not authorized to receive the congressional invitation.
Citing Google Philippines’ participation despite being part of an international entity, Gutierrez said Facebook Philippines should have also attended the hearing.
“Although Google and Alphabet are international, Google Philippines chose to appear. So I think, Mr. Chair, this would not stand as a reason for Facebook Philippines not to attend,” he said. “Given that they have failed to substantiate the reason for their absence, may I move, Mr. Chair, that the show-cause order be issued to Facebook Philippines?”
He proposed issuing show-cause orders to both ByteDance Philippines, owner of TikTok, which, in a letter, cited an engagement in Singapore as the reason for non-attendance and Facebook Philippines.
For ByteDance, Philippines, the panel issued the order against Peachy Paderna and Genixon David for Meta platforms or Facebook Philippines.
LEGISLATIVE FRANCHISE
Administration lawmakers broached the idea of requiring social media platforms to seek congressional franchises before being allowed to operate like broadcast television and radio stations.
“I think it would be best if these social media platforms secure a legislative franchise in this Congress,” said Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers.
“If you are under the franchise of this Congress, then you will be subject to the regulation that will be imposed under the law.”
Paduano said the Public Service Act (Republic Act 11659) can be amended and called on the National Telecommunications Commission to include in its list of “public utilities” these fake news channels but NTC lawyer Kathlyn Jaylou Egipto said social media platforms are not considered public utilities “because they don’t have any physical office here in the Philippines.”
Agusan del Norte Rep. Jose Aquino, chair of the committee on public information, said the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters sa Pilipinas as well as the Movies Television Review Classification Board should “update and upgrade” their mandate for purposes of regulating social media.
TAX PAYMENTS
Rep. France Castron (PL, ACT) criticized the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for relying only on the voluntary tax declarations of social media content creators.
“Are we not doing our job well or are we remiss?” she said. “Andiyan naman ‘yung platform, ‘yung Google Philippines o ‘yung YouTube (The platforms are there, Google Philippines or YouTube. You can ask them for their list of income-generating vlogs so why are we waiting for content creators to voluntarily declare?”
BIR lawyer Tobias Gavin Arcilla said: “We rely only on the voluntary declaration of the influencers in so far as their income because there will be great difficulty in monitoring the same considering that their income primarily comes from foreign income payors.”
Arcilla said the BIR is limited by current laws on tax investigations.
“Just to clarify, under existing tax laws, we cannot just investigate any taxpayer. As per existing tax laws, audits are done randomly or based on those who are classified as high-risk. That is why we cannot just audit any taxpayer,” he explained.
Lawyer Yves Gonzalez, a representative from YouTube, clarified that the platform does not monitor whether Filipino content creators pay taxes, saying the local Internal Revenue Service is the one who is monitoring that.
‘DISTORTING TRUTH’
Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea (WPS) Commodore Jay Tarriela said pro-China vloggers are trying to distort the truth and weaken the country’s position.
“It is important to note that one of the greatest challenges facing the Philippine government in the West Philippine Sea, aside from China’s bullying, unlawful activities, and aggressive actions, is combating the spread of fake news and disinformation that obscures the true narrative of events in the West Philippine Sea, leading to confusion and division among our people,” he said.
Tarriela said a false sense of security was created by the previous Duterte administration.
“The limited reporting of these incidents, combined with the narrative that the former president’s diplomatic efforts had successfully convinced Xi Jinping to allow our fishermen to operate freely, contributed to the false sense of security among the Filipino people regarding the West Philippine Sea,” he said.
Gutierrez earlier said Congress should pass a law punishing vloggers who sell political content to the highest bidders, especially an expansionist country like China which is bullying the Philippines in its exclusive economic zone.
