A Facebook page has been receiving flak for posting a meme card of Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno supposedly announcing that the city will be under lockdown starting Monday.
On January 29 at 12:41 pm, Mindanao Chronicle posted the meme card with the photo of Moreno and his political alliance’s logo ― Kaabag Kami.
“Breaking news: Lockdown Cagayan de Oro sugod Lunes, January 31, 2022. Andam na ‘ta kay wala ra ba ayuda,” the meme card reads. This is the link of the post: https://www.facebook.com/mindaupdates/posts/4214413898658630. It carried the hashtags “CdoLockdown, lockdown, enhancecommunityquarantine, and cagayandeorolockdown.”
Cagayan de Oro City Information Officer Maricel Casiño-Rivera denied that the city will be on lockdown starting Monday.
“We would like to remind the public to fact check the information that you find on the internet especially coming from dubious sources. Disinformation is spreading like wildfire these days especially now that we are on election mode,” Casiño-Rivera told Gold Star Daily in a cyber-interview yesterday.
She gave a few tips on how to verify the veracity of the information the netizens may come across on social media.
“Develop a critical mindset, check the source whether it is legitimate or not, double-check from other sources, and don’t take the information at face value unless verified,” she said.
Casiño-Rivera reminded city residents to get advisories and information on the city’s pandemic response at their official Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/CDOinfonet, named “Cagayan de Oro City Philippines.”
For its part, the City Health Office told reporters during city hall’s daily press conference yesterday to shun fake news proliferating on social media platforms.
“Those who alleged that Mayor (Oscar) Moreno will declare a lockdown (Monday) should stop making these fake news (articles),” CHO medical officer Dr. Ted Yu Jr. said.
Mindanao Chronicle’s post has since garnered 292 reactions and has been shared two thousand times. It has generated 255 comments on its thread.
In its “about” section, the group page has 11,520 followers. It is registered as a community center and a non-government organization.
According to the transparency tab of the page, it was created on March 4, 2014, by the Misamis Oriental Provincial Information Office (PIO). On July 17, 2021, the page name was Zephaniah and was later changed to Mindanao Chronicle on October 28, 2021.
The group lists the pages YVBE, Balitang Misamis Occidental, and Home Sale Mindanao as its related pages.
In an interview yesterday morning, Becky Saliring, the social media division head of the capitol, confirmed that it was the capitol’s PIO page before.
However, Saliring claimed that a certain Jerome Yongco, the capitol’s previous social media head created the page but was not given access to the page when she took over the position in 2017.
“Pag sugod nako sa 2017, nag contact ko sa iya (Yongco) para sa admin access sa PIO page, pero wala naman siya ga tubag nako. Mao naghimo na lang ko og bag-o na page gamit ang PIO na account,” Saliring told Gold Star Daily.
She added that she is currently unaware of the activities or posts of the old PIO page. Saliring said the Yongco is no longer employed by the capitol.
For his part, Yongco confirmed that he was the administrator of the old PIO page until 2016.
“Wala na ko kabalo kinsa na ang ga manage ana na page kay wala na ko sa PIO pag 2016,” Yongco told Gold Star Daily.
He added that now that he has been made aware of what the page has transitioned into, Yongco said he will reach out to Facebook to have the page removed. (With reports from Pat Jared Pangantihon)
