MANILA, Philippines — A tricommittee of the House of Representatives moved to subpoena pro-Duterte social media personalities who, for the second time, skipped a public hearing on the spread of online disinformation.
On Tuesday, February 18, a joint House committee — composed of the panels on public order and safety, information and communications technology, and public information — resumed its probe, which aimed to identify gaps in legislation to counter the spread of disinformation. Resource persons invited to attend the hearings included representatives from the media, tech platforms, and concerned government agencies, as well as around 40 online personalities.
Among the personalities who did not appear at the House were former press secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles, SMNI hosts and former NTF-ELCAC officials Lorraine Badoy and Jeffrey “Ka Eric” Celiz, Krizette Laureta Chu, Sass Sasot, MJ Quiambao Reyes, and Mark Lopez.
This is the second time these personalities skipped a scheduled House hearing on disinformation. Earlier this month, these personalities snubbed the first hearing on February 4, claiming the House inquiry violates the constitutional right to free speech. At the time, they were issued show-cause orders.
During today’s hearing, Abang Lingkod Representative Stephen Paduano moved to issue subpoenas to the personalities involved, asserting the House’s power to conduct inquiries in aid of legislation. Paduano also read a number of excuse letters, which he said were “not acceptable and (not) valid.”
Some of these figures said they chose not to appear at the House because of their pending petition to the Supreme Court that questioned the constitutionality of the hearing. Harry Roque, who was former president Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesperson, claimed the hearing was “part of the political witch hunt to silence the Dutertes and their outspoken allies.”
However, Paduano said figures “cannot use courts to subvert the constitutional mandate of the House of Representatives” and the tricommittee.
This comes after pro-Duterte figures began attacking prominent allies of the Marcos Jr. administration, including Speaker Martin Romualdez. When news outlets and netizens first noticed the Facebook pages of Sasot, Chu, Reyes, and Badoy were inaccessible earlier this month, Duterte supporters baselessly claimed the administration took these down.
Should the social media personalities fail to attend the next hearing, they may be cited in contempt, which may lead to arrest warrants. — Rappler.com