Cebu Updates is a property of Cebu City, city lawyers ask PNP, NBI to help in recovering account

Cebu City Administrator Collin Rosell (left) and Acting City Attorney Jerone Castillo answer questions from the media during a press conference at the City Hall on Friday, July 21, 2023.   | Wenilyn Sabalo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu Updates is a property of Cebu City and city lawyers are bent on recovering the management of the Facebook account.

The Cebu City government has called upon the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Cebu, to investigate the page.

Cebu City Administrator and lawyer Collin Rosell, during a press conference on Friday, July 21, 2023, said the page is a property of the city government as it was previously the Cebu City Public Information Office Facebook page during the time of the late mayor Edgardo Labella.

Its management, however, was not turned over to the new administration under Mayor Michael Rama.

“We are calling upon all authorities, including the PNP, the cybercrime, including the NBI as well as all personnel in the City Legal Office to act on the matter and do what is proper to recover the property of the city,” Rosell said.

Cebu Updates statement

The Cebu Updates page, in a social media post on Saturday, July 22, said that it is “merely a messenger for the people” and its goal is “to bridge the gap between you [the people] and our city officials, ensuring transparency and accountability in governance.”

“To Atty. Jerone Castillo, your attempts to deter our work will not hinder us from fulfilling our duty to the public. Cebu Updates will continue to be steadfast in providing reliable and impartial news for the people,” it said in the social media post.

As of this writing, the page, however, does not identify itself officially as a news organization, but as a non-governmental organization, with an address at the North Reclamation Area in Cebu City.

Its history, based on its Page Transparency section, showed that the page was created as Cebu City Public Information Office in May 2012. It changed its name to “City of Cebu, Public Information Office” on August 2, 2016, and changed its name again to “Cebu City Public Information Office on January 27, 2018.”

Its last update of the page name was on January 5, 2022, to “Cebu Updates.”

As of writing, the page has 311,000 followers and 236,000 likes.

City Legal Officer and the mayor’s special assistant, lawyer Jerone Castillo told reporters that the City Legal Office has already instructed Engr. Dax Arcilla, head of the city’s Management Information and Computer Services to look into this issue with Meta, formerly Facebook, the provider of the social media platform.

“We also requested the police to determine kinsa ang nag-pretend to be the administrators of the account when in fact it is the city account. We already have data from them,” Castillo said.

“So, expect that there will be cases filed against pretenders of an account that is supposedly owned by the City of Cebu. Kahibaw man kang property sa city ba, imo ta nang gi surrender ang administratorship ana kung naa man gani kay kaikog,” he added.        /rcg

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