Army eyes more discussions with Facebook regarding alleged violations of its personnel

The Philippine Army wants to have more discussions with Facebook to determine the supposed violations of its personnel, specifically Captain Alexandre Cabales whose Facebook account was taken down, the Army's spokesman said Thursday.

In an interview on Dobol B sa News TV, Colonel Ramon Zagala confirmed that Cabales is a member of the Philippine Army in charge of its "social media center."

"Yes po, si Captain Alex Cabales ay isang miyembro ng Philippine Army. Siya po ang naghe-head ng aming social media center," Zagala said.

"We're appealing to Facebook to tell us, kung may pagkakamali ba kami so we can correct, kung may pagkakamali ba si Captain Cabales. Gusto namin malaman anong kasalanan, especially Captain Cabales kasi kahit siya tinanong... anong ginawa mo?" he added.

Zagala said he already talked to Cabales regarding the matter. He said Cabales, who is now in Sulu, told him that he had no idea why his Facebook account was taken down as most of his posts were "accurate and true."

The military spokesman said the Army could no longer check Cabales' Facebook account as it was already taken down.

"Before we investigate, we want to know first kung ano 'yung naging misbehavior nitong mga personnel namin, specifically minention talaga nila ay si Captain Cabales," Zagala said.

"Nakausap ko siya. I asked him. He said he was surprised kasi wala naman daw siyang sine-share na inaccurate information, that's what he said... and ang nilalabas niyang information ay always accurate and the truth. So, kasi gusto rin naming malaman what did you share. Hindi na natin makita kasi naka-take down na 'yung Facebook niya," he added.

It was the Digital Forensic Research Lab which reported that Cabales' account was taken down together with other personal accounts that had extensive posting histories and appeared to belong to Army personnel.

The group also indicated that Cabales was connected to the Hands Off Our Children (HOOC), which was also one of pages and accounts taken down by Facebook.

The said page is a campaign launched by a group of parents to protect their children against "violent extremism," according to Armed Forces chief Lieutenant General Gilbert Gapay.

According to Zagala, the parents who had set up the page had asked Cabales to be its administrator since he is also against recruitment of students by communist rebels.

"Ang ano ni Captain Cabales doon, he was asked to be the administrator ng Facebook nila kasi nga the mothers are not so aware and si Captain Cabales, advocacy niya rin 'yun, that's his personal advocacy," Zagala said.

Coordination with the management of Facebook is still ongoing regarding the matter, according to Zagala.

"Una muna, 'yung nilabas ng Facebook ay base sa policy nila na may nag-violate [ng rules]. We are still coordinating sa kanila kasi 'yung sa report nila na coordinate, inaccurate behavior, we want to know alin 'yun. Mayroon bang pinost 'yung sundalo namin kasi, like I said earlier, hindi kami nagtotolerate ng any behavior na goes against sa ethics na we want to expose sa Philippine Army," he said.

"Ang sinabi naman ng Facebook, hindi 'yung content kung hindi 'yung behavior so siguro we need to coordinate more with the management of Facebook para malaman namin," he added.

Zagala vowed that the Army's leadership would never tolerate any misconduct of its personnel in the online platform.

"Sa Philippine Army, we will not tolerate any misconduct or misbehavior especially in social media among our personnel. Mayroon kaming social media handbook na sinusunod and we have punished soldiers in the past for doing so," he said.

Following Facebook's action of taking down accounts and pages linked to the military, the AFP insisted that it is adhering to online etiquette and that it does not tolerate uploading fake news and fictitious social media accounts.  —KBK, GMA News