Fake accounts of UP students, alumni flood Facebook
THE Office of the Student Regent of the University of the Philippines ( UP) revealed on Sunday that fake accounts impersonating students and alumni of the state university were created on Facebook ( FB).
The issue regarding fake accounts was first posted through UP Cebu’s publication, Tug- ani, after UP Cebu students were arrested on Friday for holding a rally denouncing the antiterror bill.
The # HandsOffOurStudents had so far trended and acquired more than a thousand shares on FB, and climbed the Top 20 tweets on Twitter as of press time.
In an FB statement, the UP student regent office, led by John Isaac Punzalan, said the accounts were made to spread false information.
“Following protests in UP campuses and threats to our students, there are now multiple reports of empty, duplicate and fake accounts bearing the names of UP students and alumni,” the statement read. “We express our utmost alarm since these accounts are suspected to cause harm or spread false information. It would be best if we all stay informed and vigilant.”
The National Privacy Commission said it was monitoring the issue and had called the attention of FB Philippines.
“According to Ms. Clare Amador, Facebook representative in the Philippines, they are already investigating this particular matter as well as other information on unauthorized accounts,” Privacy Commissioner Raymund Enriquez Liboro said.
College Editors Guild of the Philippines Cebu urged the public to block and report the fake FB accounts as they might be used for impersonation to post fake news and content deemed to incite terrorism.
Youth Act Now Against Tyranny Cebu said some Facebook accounts that had been uncovered seemed to resemble the names of those who had been arrested.
Police arrested on Friday eight persons at the UP Cebu in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City.
The arrested persons were identified by police as Joahanna Veloso, 22, associate vice president of the National Union of Students of the Philippines; Bern Cañedo, 21, vice president of the UP Cebu Student Council; Dyan Gumabao of the Kabataan partylist Cebu; Nar Porlas of AnabakbayanUP Cebu; Jaime Paglinawan, 60, secretary general of Bayan Muna- Central Visayas; Janry Ubal, 29, of the Food Not Bombs Cebu; Ai Ingking, 26, of UP Alumnos; and Clement Ventic Corominas, 19.
The Philippine National Police ( PNP) on Sunday maintained that its personnel “only enforced the law” when they arrested the protesters.
PNP spokesman BGen. Bernard Banac said police personnel needed to enforce the rules under the community quarantine.
Police said the protesters violated Republic Act ( RA) 11332 or the “Law on Reporting of Communicable Diseases”; Article 151 of the Revised Penal Code on resistance and disobedience to a person in authority; Batas Pambansa 880 or “The Public Assembly Act of 1985”; and Executive Order 709 of the Cebu City government.
The Anti-Terror Bill, also known as House Bill 6875 or “An Act to Prevent, Prohibit And Penalize Terrorism,” was passed on third and final reading on Wednesday, with 139 legislators voting in the affirmative and 31 in the negative and 29 abstaining.
It seeks to repeal RA 9372, or the “Human Security Act of 2007,” to expand the definition of terrorist acts and to ease restrictions on law enforcement in prosecuting suspects.