THE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is looking into the criminal liability of several mainstream media members for possible sedition raps, director Jaime Santiago said yesterday.
Santiago said the media practitioners, whom he did not identify, have allegedly been issuing statements beyond the parameters of freedom of speech.
“Meron tayong iniimbestigahan na kasama natin, legal, legitimate na media men pero lumampas na sila sa parameters…Yung nagke-create na sila ng disturbance, nang-aakit na sila na tayo ay mag-commit ng sedition (We are investigating some of your colleagues, legal, legitimate media men who are going way beyond the parameters [of the law]… They are creating disturbance, enticing the people to commit sedition. That is too much),” Santiago said in an interview with dzBB radio.
He said the practitioners are already abusing the freedom of speech with their commentaries.
Santiago said that while he can take public criticisms, which he said would help him improve his job, cussing at him in public commentaries are too much.
“Pero humantong na sa pinagmumura niyo ako, kung anu-ano na yung pinagsasabi niyo sa akin, lampas na po yan sa parameters ng batas (It has reached the point that they are cussing at me. They are issuing all kinds of statements that are beyond the parameters of the law),” he said.
Santiago made the statement a day after he announced that the NBI is gathering evidence against at least 20 vloggers who have been spreading disinformation.
He said the NBI is also probing who are bankrolling the disinformation, misinformation and “fake news” being spread by vloggers and other content creators.
Social media platforms have recently been abuzz with various false information related to the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte last March 11.
Senate President Francis Escudero said it was expected that the spread of disinformation will increase after the Marcos administration allowed Duterte’s arrest and transported him to The Hague.
POLITICAL BREAK-UP
Communications undersecretary Claire Castro yesterday said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the rest of the First Family have been heavily targeted by fake news since the the president’s falling out with Vice President Sara Duterte.
“Ever since tina-target na sila ng fake news. Hindi po bago. Simula nang hindi naging maayos ang pagtingin ni VP Sara sa pamilya Marcos nag-start na po ang fake news (They have always been targeted by fake news. It’s not new. Since the rift with VP Sara and the Marcos family, the fake news started,” Castro said in a briefing.
She said a recent study on the rise of fake news showed that there is a network that propagates negative news or misinformation “against the president and favoring the vice president.”
Castro, however, clarified that she is not accusing the vice president of being behind the misinformation against the First Family.
“I am not accusing anybody but a lot of people are propagating misinformation against the president and the country,” she said.
Castro said Marcos has been “slightly affected” by the spread of fake news which is why he ordered an intensified campaign against misinformation and disinformation.
“He is slightly affected. So, that’s why they asked the PCO to do its job to counter fake news, not only for himself but for the country,” she said. – With Jocelyn Montemayor
