Persons behind uploading of photos face arrests

By March 18, 2020Headlines, News

RETURNING FIL-AUSSIE WITH COVID-19

THREE persons are poised to be arrested and charged in court for illegally posting pictures of the a Filipino-Australian woman who tested positive of COVID -19 upon her return to Australia on March 2 after attending a school reunion in Dagupan City and Lingayen on February 22 and 23.

P/Colonel Redrico Maranan, police provincial director, said three women from Lingayen were traced to have uploaded the photo of the Fil-Aussie with her classmates and another photo of the woman identifying her and her address in Austrlia.

Maranan told the Talakayan sa Kapitolyo on March 10, that the three may have violated R.A No. 10175 (Section 4 of Cyber Crime Law) and Sections 32 and 33 of R.A. 10173 on the Data Privacy Act. Punishable by imprisonment of at least one year and a fine of no less than P500,000.

Maranan said the Pangasinan police came upon the photos uploaded on Facebook when they began tracing contacts of persons who interacted with the Fil-Aussie during a high school reunion in Dagupan on February 22 and over breakfast in Lingayen on February 23.

Gov. Amado Espino III earlier tapped the Pangasinan PNP to help the Department of Health and the Provincial Health Office in tracing the more than 150 persons who joined the class reunion to find out if they too were also infected with COVID-19.

“We already have their names and we will file cases against them,” Maranan said that those who forwarded and shared the photos may also be liable.

In just five hours, the post reached 223,407 persons  with 8,637 comments, and hundreds of ‘shares’.

“Based on existing laws and as far as the PNP is concerned, those who shared the photos are equally liable as the sources of the photos and appropriate charges may be filed against them too,” he added.

He called on the public not to post and share pictures that are violative of the laws particularly since President Rodrigo Duterte declared a National Public Health Emergency as a result of COVID-19.

Reacting to the uploaded photos, Dr. Anna Teresa de Guzman, provincial health officer, appealed to the people who shared the pictures to remove these from their Facebook pages.

“Hindi kasalanan ng ating mga kababayan na sila ay nagkasakit at hindi ito dapat pagtawanan, paglaruan, at pandirihan,” De Guzman said. (Leonardo Micua/Helen Martin/PIO).

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