Politicians may rename, use existing Facebook fan pages followed by thousands

A politician may use an existing Facebook fan page which already enjoys a huge following for his or her own purpose, a professor from the Ateneo De Manila University School of Government has said.

According to Izzy Lee's report on "Stand for Truth", Professor Praxis Leon Flores III said the practice may be legal but may be considered "false advertising".

Flores said that some PR and digital firms repurposed Facebook pages for politicians to gain the existing huge number of followers.

For instance, the transparency disclosure of Camarines Sur Representative Luis Raymund Villafuerte's fan page showed that it was created in February 2011 for actor Jake Vargas. It already had 170,000 followers.

In March 2016, the page name was changed to Jake Villafuerte and in April 2016, to LRay Villafuerte.

“'Yung pag-build kasi ng audience, no, hindi kasi siya medyo madali, lalo na kung ikaw ay politician. Alam naman natin na medyo hindi maganda ‘yung imahe ng mga politicians dito sa Pilipinas,” Flores said.

“So, politicians do it primarily to help build their audience. Kasi nandoon na, eh, ready na siya. Parang binili mo na lang ‘yung ready audience na nandoon. They want good following, they want to push their influence, maybe perhaps to get votes,” he added.

Stand for Truth sought comment from Villafuerte, who said he would come up with a statement on the matter.

The statement has yet to be sent as of posting time.

“Ang problema lang din natin dito ay, ikaw kasi bilang follower or Facebook user, hindi mo alam, eh, kasi ‘yung una mo’ng ni-like si Jake Vargas. Tapos all of a sudden naging Lray Villafuerto o kung sino mang politiko,” Flores said.

“Habang walang batas ito, matatawag natin itong false advertising per say. Dapat hindi misleading. ‘Yung pangunahing pakay, by which you follow that person. What if, out of nowhere, violence or anti-terror na pala ‘yung page. Out of nowhere pwede ka kasuhan,”  he added. -Joahna Lei Casilao/NB, GMA News