Jamaine Punzalan

Article (news)

Karen De Guzman

ABS-CBN News

MANILA — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Wednesday held a dialogue with some vloggers allegedly involved in spreading false information on social media.NBI Director Jaime Santiago said the meeting was not intended to press charges but to clarify legal boundaries in online discourse.&quot;Sinubpoena namin about 40 vloggers, content creators, ganyan, not really to charge them, kundi magkaroon ng dialogue,&quot; Santiago said. “Maaari ‘yung iba sa kanila, nalilihis lamang ng landas, hindi alam na lumalampas na sila sa parameter ng batas.”<div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:560px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1919984353918009583&amp;lang=en&amp;maxWidth=560px&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com%2F%23%2Fworkspace%2Fmonitoring%3Fitem%3Durn%3Anewsml%3Aod2-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com%3A2025-05-07T10%3A24%3A35.938677%3Aebe25b42-e0d5-40d3-b46e-753f32bfe554%26action%3Dedit&amp;sessionId=582533bc4168cdecbf692b9f2bcb02ae0de8009e&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px" style="position:static;visibility:visible;width:338px;height:190px;display:block;flex-grow:1" data-tweet-id="1919984353918009583"></iframe></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8"></script>Santiago, a former judge, underscored his respect for the right to free speech and expression but drew a line between opinion and deliberate disinformation.He cited false claims online about worm-infested government rice under the P20-NFA rice program.“Porke’t malapit na eleksyon, ikuwestiyon mo, opinyon mo ‘yan. But then ilalabas mo, ang binibenta naman nilang bigas, inuood? That is fake news already. Dahil hindi naman magbibenta ang gobyerno ng ganun,&quot; the official said. The NBI chief said such posts could damage public trust and potentially incite unrest.Among those present in the meeting was former press secretary Atty. Trixie Cruz-Angeles, who also represented another vlogger as legal counsel.She welcomed the dialogue but also reminded Santiago that even erroneous statements made in good faith could still be protected under the Constitution.“There is a Supreme Court decision where even if the commentary should be based on something that later on proves to be erroneous, it&#x27;s still protected speech. It&#x27;s still covered by speech,” Angeles said.“Inexplain ko, sabi ko Judge, you know this is part of discussions, this is part of commentary, this is covered by free speech. Sabi niya wala namang problema with commentary, huwag naman daw ‘yung fake.”She added that content creators under investigation should be given a chance to clarify or correct their statements before legal action is pursued.“So kung kunwari, bigla mo nalang kakasuhan o bigla ka nalang adversarial investigation sa’yo, there is no opportunity to correct yourself and nobody learns anything,” she said.“Alam niyo naman, democracy is always a work in progress. So ganon din po ‘yung pagde-define ng ating mga karapatan and even defining the limits or the non-limits of protection.”Santiago reiterated that the NBI was not seeking to suppress dissent.“We are not curtailing the freedom of speech, freedom of expression, but we are reminding them na maging ayon pa rin sa batas ang kanilang mga sinasabi,” he said. Some vloggers who did not respond to the NBI’s subpoena could face direct filing of complaints with the Department of Justice.“Meron kaming minomonitor namin and we have a compilation na ng kanilang mga ginawa, yung iba ipa-file na lang namin. Ayaw nilang makipag-cooperate dito, yung iba ipa-file na lang namin and then sa DOJ na silang magpaliwanag, due process pa rin,&quot; Santiago said. The NBI is also looking into a separate case involving “Oplan Horus,” a controversial political strategy allegedly devised by the Lakas–Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD), which it disowned. Lakas-CMD earlier sought the bureau’s help in investigating the smear effort.Lawyers representing the author linked to the malicious article on Oplan Horus were present during the dialogue but declined to issue any statement.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) held a dialogue with some vloggers allegedly involved in spreading false information on social media.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) held a dialogue with some vloggers allegedly involved in spreading false information on social media.

NBI meets with vloggers over alleged spread of fake news

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NBI meets with vloggers over alleged spread of fake news

Karen De Guzman,

ABS-CBN News

Published May 07, 2025 05:40 PM PHT

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Updated May 07, 2025 06:15 PM PHT

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