MANILA, Philippines – The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) reminded its military and civilian personnel, and their dependents to “maintain proper behavior in their online and social media activities,” it said in a statement on Thursday, May 7.
AFP chief of staff General Felimon Santos Jr issued a directive to the commanders of the military’s major services – the Army, Navy, and Air Force – and its unified commands all over the country on Wednesday, May 6.
"All AFP military, civilian human resource, to include dependents, are directed to practice caution in publicizing personal opinion especially when engaging in social media activities," Santos’ directive stated.
Santos cited an AFP policy on social media use, first published in 2016, which called for "proper etiquette and a high standard of conduct and behavior in any and all online interaction or activity."
The policy prohibits the military and their civilian support staff from posting or sharing materials that violate the law, or any “information that harms or puts other people in embarrassing, inconvenient, and or humiliating positions, or puts the AFP or any of its units in bad light."
Opinions ‘not strictly prohibited’
Although the rule does not “strictly prohibit” AFP members and employees from posting their personal opinions, they are ordered to ensure that their posts are not misconstrued as representing the organization’s official position.
"Each member of our organization has a responsibility to protect not only our physical structures and the lives they contain, but more importantly the people's trust and confidence that took many years to build," Santos said.
"Our ranks and positions as public servants hold us to higher standards of discipline and behavior, and we are expected to live up to these in every aspect of our lives," the military chief added.
Santos issued the directive a day after the National Telecommunications Commission ordered the country’s largest TV network, ABS-CBN, off the air over alleged issues with its government franchise to broadcast through a terrestrial channel.
Although a number of military members posted their personal views on the subject on their personal pages, AFP Public Affairs chief Captain Jonathan Zata told reporters the memo was issued “on account of posts and comments monitored on social media in the past.”
“We normally send this reiteration to remind AFP personnel about proper decorum on social media, and not necessarily as a result of an incident. We try to be as proactive as we can, especially now that most Filipinos have ample time to be in front of computers,” Zata said.
Propriety
In the directive, the military chief also reminded commanders and spokespersons to follow the “Security-Accuracy-Propriety-Policy Rule” published in a 2007 memo.
“Security” means preventing unauthorized persons from having access to official or classified information.
“Accuracy” means all data, names, figures, quotations, and statements should be correct.
“Propriety” means only the authority with the official capacity may disclose military information to the public.
“Policy” refers to “the adherence to a broad course of action or guidance adopted by the government in pursuit of certain objectives.”
The AFP has roughly 150,000 uniformed members, 12,400 civilian staff, and 70,000 Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit paramilitary troops.
The military is madated to be apolitical. However, its members' career advancement is largely dependent on the President, their commander-in-chief who dispenses promotions, and on Congress, which may approve or block those promotions. – Rappler.com
