The Philippine National Police’s (PNP) plan to scour social media for quarantine violators does not break laws under the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, Malacañang said on Monday.
“Iyong cybercrimes act natin, nakasaad po doon ang mga ipinagbabawal. Hindi naman po ipinagbabawal ang social media monitoring,” Palace spokesman Harry Roque said in a virtual briefing.
Joint Task Force Covid Shield’s Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar over the weekend ordered police to monitor social media for violations of quarantine and mass gathering protocols.
Eleazar said that even uniformed personnel found violating protocols would be subject to disciplinary action.
Roque said monitoring public posts on social media did not breach any privacy law.
“Wala pong mali doon sa ginagawa ng pulis kung tinitingnan lang nila kung ano iyong mga naka-post sa social media. So iyong pagmo-monitor po, hindi po iyan iligal. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that,” he explained.
“Iyong pagmo-monitor ng social media, e pinost iyan, so parang nagkaroon po ng waiver of privacy diyan, kapag posted na ang isang bagay sa social media…. Ito po ay instance lang naman na ginagamit ng ating kapulisan na teknolohiya,” he added. John Ezekiel J. Hirro