The Philippine National Police (PNP) is preparing to subpoena a social media user over a post in which she claimed Acting Chief Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. urged officers to disobey President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
‘According to the CIDG and the Anti-Cybercrime Group’s report, the post was taken down and the poster of the disinformation was identified,’ PNP public information chief Brig. Gen. Randulf Tuaño said in Filipino in a press briefing in Camp Crame on Wednesday.
‘The CIDG subpoena is now being prepared to summon her and give her a chance to explain,’ he added.
Tuaño said he was not at liberty to name the social media user, only saying that she was a ‘professional living in Mindanao.’
A screenshot of the original post shared by the PNP at the briefing showed a Facebook page named ‘Rose Ann’ claiming that Nartatez urged the police force to disobey Marcos’ orders and called the president a ‘thief of the country’s treasury.’
In a statement on Tuesday night, the PNP debunked the post, saying it was ‘fabricated and malicious’ and it ‘intended to spread confusion and discredit our institution.’
In a press briefing last Monday, Nartatez said neither he, his staff, PNP commanders, nor regional directors had been asked to withdraw support from Marcos.
‘And what’s the basis? We have a president who won by a majority vote. I don’t see any basis to remove him from office,’ he said.
This came after Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said he rejected open calls by several groups and retired officers to oust the President amid outrage over alleged anomalies in infrastructure projects. /mcm