Quad comm chair slams ‘narco trolls’

MANILA, Philippines —  Their days numbered, Philippine offshore gaming operators and others involved in illegal activities including drugs apparently want payback from the House quad committee in its ongoing investigations on POGOs.

According to the presiding chairman of the House of Representatives’ quad comm, these illegal operators have hired the services of what he called “narco trolls” shortly after engaging “narco vloggers” who peddled fake news online.

“The sheer number of trolls and the amount of false information that they flood the internet with will give you an idea on the value or amount of money needed to pay them. Who is the innocent person who is bound to benefit from these trolling?” Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said in a privilege speech yesterday.

“Obviously, the ones funding these malicious campaigns are the ones hurting most in our continuing quad comm hearings,” the Surigao del Norte second district congressman said.

Barbers said dozens or hundreds of trolls, almost all of them adopting similarly destructive and malicious propaganda lines and probably paid by POGO and drug money, relentlessly attack personalities.

“This has been happening without letup. They get away with it, that is why they continue to thrive. It is a business that has become so profitable, without having to pay taxes, no liability and with the pleasure of being able to ruin people’s reputation without having to worry about getting caught,” he said.

He said the government, law enforcement, the public and maligned concerned individuals should not let these professional truth benders win. “These particular group of trolls – I’m not saying all of them because some are good trolls – are getting paid and we all know that.”

Barbers earlier asked the National Bureau of Investigation to identify, investigate and file charges against suspected POGO-funded vloggers for spreading lies, malicious and libelous videos in social media.

Barbers is chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs.

He said these narco trolls are reportedly employed by displaced and displeased POGO operators and drug lords to make offensive, provocative posts in various social media platforms in order to cause conflict and change public opinion.

In a letter to NBI director Jaime Santiago, he said that the deliberate disinformation drive by the seemingly “organized vloggers” not only damages the integrity of public service, but also fosters an environment of confusion, distrust and deception.

In his speech, Barbers called on the government agencies in charge of investigating cybercrimes to be more pro-active “so that our people may be protected by the civil servants who draw salaries from their taxes.”

“Do not be passive and wait for complaints to be filed before you act on the obvious transgressions of the law,” he said.