BACOLOD City – The City Legal Office considers tapping top law enforcement agencies in government in tracking down the creators of Facebook accounts using the names of local officials.
Creating the fake accounts amounts to “doing something against the honor of another person,” said City Legal Officer Joselito Bayatan. “This amounts to the destruction of one’s reputation.”
The city hall official said they may seek help from the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.
Facebook accounts bearing the names of several officials carried wrong information and made posts that confused local users of the social networking website.
Councilor Caesar Distrito disclosed last week that he and Mayor Evelio Leonardia, Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran and Rep. Greg Gasataya were victims of fake Facebook account makers.
The culprits may be held liable under Republic Act 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, Bayatan said.
Bayatan said they hope the government’s investigative agencies could help the local government identify the fake account creators and monitor the possible creation of other fake accounts for other city officials.
“Nobody has the right to play with, destroy or malign anybody’s reputation for whatever reason,” he said.
The creation of these fake Facebook accounts may be considered “black propaganda” against the concerned officials, he added.
Distrito had said he will file charges against the individuals behind the Facebook accounts using his name.
“I intend to file a case against those perpetrators or authors,” said Distrito, chairman of the Sangguniang Panlungsod committee on laws, ordinances and good government.
Some of these bogus social media accounts, according to Distrito, are “Caesar Distrito,” “Mayor Bing Leonardia,” and “Cong Greg Gasataya Basketball.”/PN
