By John Clifford Lintao
DEFENSE Secretary Delfin Lorenzana seemed to know only too well where he stands insofar as the anti-terror law is concerned as he just turned down Armed Forces chief Lieutenant General Gilbert Gapay’s proposal to regulate the social media.
Lorenzana said there is no provision in the law that regulates social media.
Gapay, for his part, reiterated that his proposal was premised on alleged use of social media by terrorist groups to recruit and radicalize the youth.
“My statement invited interest among several sectors, but really the premise was social media is being used as a vehicle of terrorist groups to recruit, to gain financing in logistics, to radicalize and even plan terrorist attacks,” he said.
“That’s why we were asked to suggest some ideas to the IRR (implementing rules and regulation). Based on our experience in Marawi [siege], this is one of the major challenges we confronted,” he noted.
The AFP chief claimed that the Maute terrorist group was able to hole up and sustain their positions in the fight for four months by capitalizing in social media.
“They were able to recruit, to radicalize, and even plan and carry out some attacks in certain communities,” Gapay said.
Critics of the Anti-Terrorism Act earlier expressed doubt that the police and military would fairly enforce the controversial measure.