In another case of censorship, Meta took down a post by the College Editors Guild of the Philippines – Southern Tagalog chapter condemning the conviction of former CEGP-ST Secretary General Alexandria Pacalda today, March 18.
Meta said that CEGP-ST’s post went “against their community guidelines” for “coordinating harm and promoting crime.”
But the post only showed pictures of CEGP-ST’s members registering their opposition to Lucena RTC Branch 56 Judge Salvador Villarosa’s decision to convict Pacalda for trumped-up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.
On September 14, 2019, Pacalda was arrested without warrant while investigating human rights violations in General Luna, Quezon.
The editors’ guild alleged that, as she was detained by the 85th Infantry Battalion and the 201st Infantry Brigade, Pacalda experienced psychological torture eventually forcing her to sign an affidavit of voluntary surrender as a “member of the New People’s Army.”
The guild condemned the decision to erase the post, calling it Meta’s collaboration with the Marcos-Duterte administration in coordinating digital censorship and promoting disinformation, historical distortion, and black propaganda against dissenters and dissent in general.
This is not the first time that Meta has taken down posts by campus publications and campus press associations condemning attacks on the press.
In December, Meta took down posts by SINAG, UP Manila’s the Manila Collegian, and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines’s the Catalyst.
When CEGP released a statement condemning the takedown, Meta took it down as well.
READ: https://sinag.press/news/2023/01/11/metas-crackdown-on-progressives-is-digital-martial-law-cegp/
“These assaults on publications are outright manifestations of the Marcosian political repression against journalists and students. It is a brazen incursion on the right to express and publish, especially within student institutions that ironically should be safe havens for critical thought and practice,” they said.
Still, the guild believes that this repression will spark even more resistance from the youth.
“Digitalizing Martial Law or any other repressive stunts they may think of would not stop the campus press and the youth from calling ‘never again’ and ‘never forget.’ Instead, this will only spark anew the flames of First Quarter Storm and EDSA Revolution be it on the screens or the streets,” said Melanie Feranil, CEGP’s national spokesperson.
The featured image is courtesy of the College Editor’s Guild of the Philippines – Southern Tagalog Chapter.
