DILG 'disappointed' over Facebook's lack of response vs e-sabong pages

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Wednesday expressed disappointment as Facebook has yet to respond to its request to take down pages promoting illegal e-sabong.

At the Laging Handa public briefing, DILG spokesperson Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said there is no reply yet from the social networking site and e-sabong pages are still up.

“We are disappointed dahil kung sila ay mag-shut down ng ibang pages ambilis, but in this case, it is as if they are tolerating illegal activity in the Philippines. Para po silang lumalabas accessory to an illegal activity,” he said.

(We are disappointed because they are swift in shutting down other pages, but in this case, it is as if they are tolerating illegal activity in the Philippines. They are appearing to be an accessory to an illegal activity.)

Malaya said they submitted to Facebook the list of pages, groups, accounts, and sites encouraging people to play illegal online sabong  and requested that these be taken down.

He pointed out that Facebook is a business entity operating in the Philippines and bound by the laws of the country.

Authorities have monitored 12 illegal websites and eight social media pages for e-sabong operations. At least seven websites have already been taken down, according to Malaya.

In a separate statement Wednesday afternoon, Malaya made a final appeal to Meta Platforms, Inc., operator of Facebook, to “immediately and without further delay take down these pages.”

“Meta Platforms has ignored the request of Philippine authorities. The said accounts are still operational—in violation of the Presidential directive and of the Cockfighting Law as amended by PD 1612—and we have not received a reply from Meta to this date,” he said.

“Their continued inaction on the request of this Department, the Philippine National Police, and other government agencies to take-down pages, accounts, and other links encouraging people to patronize illegal e-sabong is tantamount to tolerating illegal activity in their platform. It is not only a violation of Philippine Law but also a violation of Facebook’s own community standards,” he added.

Sought for comment, Meta said the e-sabong pages and groups have been removed from its platform.

“We have removed these Pages and Groups for violating our Coordinating Harm and Promoting Crime policy. We don't allow facilitating, organizing and promoting criminal or harmful activities targeted at animals on our platforms,” Meta said in a statement sent to GMA News Online.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier approved the recommendation of the DILG to stop e-sabong following the reports on 34 sabungeros who had gone missing.

Duterte’s decision came after a survey conducted by the DILG in cities and provinces regarding e-sabong operations, which is being blamed for the deterioration of moral values among many Filipinos.—AOL, GMA News