AFP, PNP told to stay loyal to PH despite calls for partisan activity

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TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte — The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) must to remain loyal to the country despite calls from different sectors to engage in “partisan activity”, former senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said on Saturday.

Lacson, in a radio interview with DZRH, said that it is important for people especially those from the uniformed services to verify information spreading on social media, as they may be swayed by misinformation and disinformation.

The former senator, who also served as PNP chief,  said this after some of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s supporters on social media urged police and military personnel to leave the service and back the ex-leader.

READ: Rodrigo Duterte arrest: Cops just gave security to implementers of order

“They should remain professional and loyal to their duty. That is the best message,” Lacson said in Filipino during the interview, transcripts of which were sent to reporters.

“In this day and age of information technology, fake news spreads fast. And we know that is in their training to conduct fact-checking first. If there are reports of partisan activity, they should not get involved,” he added.

READ: PNP prepared for people power calls vs Duterte’s arrest

Fake news

According to Lacson, the issue of misinformation and disinformation may be one of the issues that he will look into should he be reelected.

“We must focus on penalizing the spread of fake news. This threatens our culture, and contributes to the destruction of our good manners and right conduct,” he added.

On social media, there have been posts allegedly made by police and military officers who resigned from office as they cannot accept that Duterte was arrested and handed over to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

However, there were netizens who also fact-checked these posts.  For example, a post from a male police officer claimed that he left the service after finding it hard to still be part of the PNP after it assisted the International Criminal Police Organization in enforcing the ICC arrest order.

The police officer was criticized by his alleged ex-girlfriend who claimed that the resignation of the officer happened months before Duterte was arrested.