Gapay asked Facebook to restore advocacy page vs. NPA recruitment, says AFP spox

Armed Forces chief Lieutenant General Gilbert Gapay has asked social media giant Facebook to restore the page of The Hands Off Our Children (HOOC), an advocacy page fighting against recruitment of youth by communist groups.

At a virtual press briefing on Thursday, AFP spokesman Major General Edgard Arevalo said Facebook's move to take down the HOOC page was discussed during a meeting with Facebook Head of Public Policy in the Philippines Clare Amador on Wednesday.

"The AFP chief-of-staff Lt. Gen. Gilbert Gapay urged Ms. Amador and her team to to look closely into the process that they observe in unilaterally removing accounts and for them to give due regard to the cause that are being espoused by this account owner to remove doubts of FB being partisan," Arevalo said.

"Specifically, he inquired if FB can restore Hands Off Our Children and other groups of similar advocacies like preventing child exploitation and trafficking of minors, and combating terrorism that may have been taken down," he added.

In an earlier statement, Gapay said HOOC is a campaign launched by a group of parents to protect their children against "violent extremism."

According to Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Ramon Zagala, the administrator of the page was Captain Alexandre Cabales

'Coordinated inauthentic behavior'

Arevalo said during the meeting, Facebook told the military that there is no policy yet on restoring accounts or pages which were taken down.

"Ang naalala ko, ang sagot nila sa amin ay wala silang polisiya hinggil sa pagbabalik ng account na natake-down na nila. 'Yun ang sagot na ibinigay sa atin," Arevalo said.

"Kaya nga ang bahagi ng naging apela ng ating butihing chief-of-staff ay kung puwede nilang bisitahin 'yung existing na policy hinggil sa mga account na natake-down na nila at sa hindi nila pagtingin sa content sa halip sa tinatawag nilang behavior sila tumitingin," he added.

Facebook had taken down some accounts and pages supposedly linked to the police and the military due to "coordinated inauthentic behavior."

Following this, the AFP insisted that it is adhering to online etiquette and that it does not tolerate uploading fake news and fictitious social media accounts.

Arevalo maintained "that it does not subscribe to or espouse fake news." He also reiterated that the official accounts of the AFP remain operational. — RSJ, GMA News