CMFR statement re warning issued by the PNP against online “content creators” whose posts “destabilize” the Marcos administration

CONCERNED CITIZENS should view with alarm the reported warning issued by the Philippine National Police against online “content creators” whose posts “destabilize” the Marcos administration. The warning presents the police as an arbiter of free expression. Any interference by the police that results in shutting down or taking into account those engaging views in the public forum, including social media, encroaches on freedom of speech and expression which is protected by the Constitution.  

This move by the police cannot be viewed separately from the context of the recent actions against SMNI. The same pattern of political actions was taken by supporters of then President Rodrigo Duterte, whose displeasure with ABS-CBN was so openly expressed as to drive the ruling alliance in Congress to refuse the renewal of a media franchise that the network had operated for decades.

The report about the police intent to interfere with the media and the public forum creates a climate of fear. The PNP statement suggests that any police officer can interpret as destabilizing what an individual or group says in a political discussion on any media platform.

If the police have evidence that a crime has been committed by content creators on social media, it should go through the judicial process and hold them accountable in the court of law. For a law enforcement agency to be involved in imposing limits to free expression is misuse or abuse of state power. The involvement of the PNP in this issue is disturbing, to say the least. It recalls dark periods in our history when indeed the police with the military were at the forefront as guardians of a dictatorial regime.