The Department of National Defense is also looking at the emergence of fake Facebook (FB) accounts in the Philippines, said Defense chief Delfin Lorenzana on Monday.
“Mayroon na, mayroon nang nagte-check niyan. Mayroon naman tayong capabilities to check, nakikipag-usap na tayo sa Facebook kung sino-sino itong mga account na ‘to, pero both sides are accusing eh, ang sabi ng mga pro anti-terrorism bill ay ginagawa ito ng kabila,” Lorenzana said.
(Someone is checking on that. We have the capabilities to check. We are already talking on Facebook who these accounts are, but both sides are accusing each other. The pro-anti-terrorism bill said the other made these.)
“Ang sabi naman ng kabila ‘yung mga pro, so tingnan natin kung sino, ano talaga ang dahilan pero nagtatapunan na ng mga paratang ang isa’t isa,” he added.
(The other one said the pro did it. So let us see but both are just throwing allegations at each other.)
The Defense chief admitted that the fake FB accounts are a cause for alarm as it creates “discordant voices among the people.”
Philippine National Police chief Police General Archie Francisco Gamboa earlier announced that he already tasked the Anti-Cybercrime Group to investigate the incident.
Facebook meanwhile is also conducting its own probe.
The Department of Justice said it received 122 reports of “apparent proliferation” of fake accounts on Facebook after it launched an investigation on the alleged dummy accounts.
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NBI: Fake FB accounts just a glitch
NBI Cybercrime Division chief Victor Lorenzo in an interview with TeleRadyo said the empty and fake accounts could be just a glitch since it is tough to create an account today on Facebook, especially when one has multiple accounts created under one ID using one cellphone number from one location.
“Machine lang naman iyon. Hindi impossible na mangyari na magkaroon ng glitch,” he added.
(That’s just a machine. It’s not impossible to have a glitch.)