Ways to become responsible social media users in an era of fake news

Social media as we all know has became an outlet of ourselves. Interestingly, most people tend to treat social media as real circumstance in life; a medium of interaction where exchanges in information, knowledge and feeling is done almost instantaneously and automatically.

Much more, this has become the major medium of sharing even the minutest aspect of our lives, giving ourselves that ultimate freedom and power to express what we really want to say and shout…..the hell society cares!

However, everything has its limit by the way. Spidey’s Uncle Ben even put it this way, “great power comes great responsibility…”

In the following discussion, we will be signing out with our impulses and halt a bit of clicking and typing within our social media space and try to munch a bit of these few tips on becoming responsible social media users.

Now, would you agree guys if I insist that fake news and misinformation is the total reciprocate of being a responsible social media user? Admit, it, you agree.

I should say, that for the past year until this dawn of 2017, we are taught with nothing than fake news and misinformation. Yes, I know, you are now having that DDS sort of stuff in your head… Yes keep it going…..Mocha Blogs, Duterte Supporters Blog, Thinking Pinoy Blog…and a lot of this stuff. It is only this period that we are beginning to realize how much of these fake news sites and blog has affected our relationships with our friends and relatives through hate campaign against the so called “dilawans”, and how this same blogs and sites had even prostituted our fellow-Filipino’s sense of sanity, which I hypothesize is about 16M bots.

The said part is that fake news and misinformation has finally become a threat not only to social media (the sane part of it), but also the traditional media. The sadder part of it is that fake news and misinformation can spread in milliseconds like wildfire. And the saddest part is we tend to be accessories of fake news proliferation by actually sharing articles and news without even reading the article. You know what I mean…. If the headline or title do sound like ka-DDS sort thing, we will automatically share the article without even thinking twice or even half of it.. I know a lot of people who share social media feeds based on impulse and thoughtless mouse clicks. I know many of them, which I hypothesize is about 16M bots. I don’t think I could accept the fact that the factuality of a news will someday be weighed according the number of shares and likes in Facebook and other social media platforms.

Well, the proliferation of fake news and misinformation do not only come from the obliviousness of careless un-thinking Pinoys (about 16M bots). Misinformation may also be “capital-driven”. This means deliberate sensationalization of some media outlets, or “bending reality” for the purpose of “giving in” to what their followers want. Well, Google Trends has a lot to say about this.

Question, are we really in a situation of falling into the pit of misinformation and fake news as we go along with our social media lives? Well, nobody knows, even the spin doctors would not tell….

But we can do something. We can be responsible social media user! Being such would allow us to get the most accurate information that we want and could likewise share accurate information with our peers and family members.

The following notes will discuss ways to become a responsible social media user.

Decide and design your news feed.

Actually, we are the architects of our own newsfeed. Newsfeed is that part of our social media platform i.e. Facebook, here comments and various activities of our “Friends” are flagged or announced. We are the gatekeeper, the ultimate curator of our social media space. Anytime, we can always filter from whose “Friend” are we going to show in our newsfeed. Its like choosing which furniture are still of use, and which are garbage, well I know some them….. Yes the bots!

You might want to review the people and the Facebook pages that you follow. The general rule is, the more people and the more Pages you follow, the more newsfeed will automatically creep you out.! Siply put, maintain which friends and pages that are is the same with your interest or something that is personal to you. After all, Facebook never gives millions of dollars for FB accounts that have many “Friends”.

You might also want to remove tabloids and blogs that knowingly share false information just to generate high click rates for their advertisers. You know who they are when you see them, so take the extra five seconds to visit their profile and unfollow. In a race for clicks many decent media groups have spiraled out of control, morphing into a meaningless feed of conspiracies, lies and controversial accusations. Cut the cord by un-following content publishers that serve a shameless advertising agenda. Then replace them with trusted, reliable sources. I really love reading Mocha Uson Blogs and The Thinking Pinoy.

Background Checking

Most often, we have this tendency of reciprocating the “sharing” favor to our social media friends who have likewise shared our posts beforehand. Let’s put it this way. For example, you made a post about “single mothers” and FB friend A shared your post to his/her FB friends B, C, D….etc. As human nature of “reciprocation”, you will then be sharing whatever FB friend A will be posting, as a gratitude for sharing your posts. This may be a good practice among circle of friends who share similar interests and values. However, there lies danger of manipulation and deceit in here. Unaware of the source of a particular FB post, and eventually sharing this post to our friends may do harm than good. What if the “reciprocated” shared post is actually a false news or article which is harmful to others?

Remember, “what we share on social media is just as important as what we absorb on social media.” Sharing news is worthwhile, as long as it is founed on truth and empirical basis. Social media feeds trample on the other hand, because of proliferation of wrng information and misleading news items. Misinformation could actually discredit a personality or institution because of exponential sharing of fake social media feeds/news. So the rule of thumb on sharing, background check if necessary before sharing any information in social media. However, of qualifying your sources seems like too much trouble on your part, then consider not sharing articles and published information which you are not sure of. Be contended on the picture of your favorite shoes instead.

Be wary of false “social media prophets”. Eliminate them from your space

Admit it. Not all of your social media friends are actually your real-life friends. Meaning, you don’t really personally know your 1000+ FB friends do you? Be keen on your posers. If at the onset, you discover an FB friend posting a questionable and unreliable newsfeed, you have two options. Call his attention in your FB space and clarify his post once and for all. Well, that would be a bit harsh, but its worth the try. The seoncd option is of course, unfriend him/her! You would not want false news flash in your news feed, with you’re your colleagues and love ones reading your banner of false news and misinformative news items.

You might also want to categorize your FB friends into three. The first category should be your FB friends who are your real life fiends or realtives and love nes. The second category would be the Friends of your FB friends. And the third category are your friends in FB whom you haven’t personally met yet. You may never know, but having these categories comes in handy when it comes to choosing who on F you are going to trust, and who are not worthy of it.

Read what you share, and share only what you read

Oftentimes, we get too excited with what we browse-read and eventually end up sharing this particular material. However, it would be frustrating that in the second look, wht we have shared really was not actually thought about it in the first place. If the items that we shared have harmed a person or an institution, then all that we could do say sorry to them or pretend that we could no longer remember that particular harmful post that we have shared.

Yourself is not only your audience

Social media is called as such because of nothing. Socially media posts and threads are there to live forever, unless you deliberately delete them. Likewise, we have a vast number of audience that will read and share our posts. So the clincher is, social media is still a universe of various living audiences who could read, react and re-share your posts. It is an ecosystem of living humans who can remember you or your particular post, those who could refer to your Fb profile and those who could screen grab your post and use it for any good or evil purpose.

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As a gist, the golden verse for this article would be, “think before you click”. Remember the rule of nature, for every action, there is always an equal but opposite reaction (or counter-action for this context.) What we do in social media, may apparently hit us back in the future, God knows when.

Building Bridges Breaking walls

Ronaldo Trinidad Jr. or Adong, a 10-year old speech impaired lad have never experienced going to school since he was 6 years old. Ill-laden since birth because of a congenital disease, Adong just spent most of his time playing alone in their makeshift house, or help his mother do household chores.

With his tender age, Adong has to face the implications of his health and physical condition. He could not speak well, his tummy bulged, and his father, Boy Trinidad, has to frequently attend to him whenever Adong catches fits and seizure. He have been like this for ten painful years, and yet, Adong, has been insistent on going to school, like his “kuya” (older brother) and “ate” (older sister).

Adong’s parents have actually attempted to enrol him at the Manuel Luis Quezon Elementary School in Caloocan City, Metro Manila. The school, having no special education program (SPED) requested Adong’s parents to look for a school that offers special education program. The irony however, is that the schools offering special programs are very far from their house, and they have to spend about P100.00 (about $2.5) daily for his transportation. Both unemployed, the Trinidad couple decided to again, delay Adong’s education.

“Akala ko nga talaga, hindi na siya makakapasok…” (I really thought that he could never go to school…), laments Mana Trinidad, Adong’s mother. However, a sudden shift of fate for Adong happened in 2006, when Mrs. Trinidad met Ms. Lumen Mijares, president of the inclusive Education Community Support Group of Malaria (I.E.-CSG), a local partner of PhilCOCHED in the implementation of the Inclusive Education Program.

Mrs. Mana Trinidad learned from Lumen Mijares that their I.E.-CSG is running a community-based Inclusive Educational Center (IEC) in Malaria, Caloocan City, Metro Manila. She was advised to bring Adong the following day to the centre for pre-assessment and adopted aptitude tests.

Mrs. Trinidad took the chance for her youngest child. The following day, Mrs. Trinidad brings Adong with her to the Livelihood, Education and Rehabilitation Centre (LERC). The long hand railed hallway led them to a room, doors closed and bears a banner saying that it was the Inclusive Educational Centre of Malaria.

As she peaks beyond the glass window, she saw a neat room, were both children with various disabilities and non-disabled children making art works out of clay and pelt papers. She saw that the room was painted with mint green, and is filled with nursery books, some equipment that she had never seen before, kids’ toys. She also saw her neighbour, a mother of a cerebral palsy (CP) pupil, who assists the teacher giving instructions to her (CP) child.

On their way home, after the various tests to Adong, Mrs. Trinidad recalled that Adong, uttering hard to distinguished words but wearing a smile, told her, “Patuk na ako pukas ma…” (I am going to school tomorrow mama…).

Adong studied for a couple of years at the community-based Inclusive Educational Centre (IEC), where he had not only receive therapy sessions and education but has likewise gained friends and peers, non-disabled and children with disabilities, a preparation for his enrolment in the regular school.

Currently, Adong now is enrolled in a regular class at the Manuel Luis Quezon Elementary School, a school with no special education program.

The I.E.-CSG on the other hand will be coordinating with Adong’s teacher, together with other regular teachers, to conduct a teachers training on inclusive education prior to the next school year, to accommodate children like Adong.

Apps to Track Location of Love ones in Times of EJK

Ways to share your exact location with family, using Android

Peace of mind these days is the most precious state of being for most parents. Given the current situation where people are instantaneously killed, well, several thousands of them, at the height of this current administration's war on drugs, it is paramount for parents to keep track of their children whenever possible.

Photo not mine,, credits to https://www.hrw.org

There are actually Android applications downloadble at Playstore, which can can be used as child-tracking system. But let me point out that installing these applications on your child's phone must have prior permission, especially if he or she is at her/his legal age. 

Generally, these apps have the capacity of keeping an eye on your family members' whereabouts.

These are locator apps which can actually pinpoint a love one's location using GPS technology. 

So let's start rounding them off; 

Writer's note:

While we are interested with your peace of mind at this point, we believe that privacy of your child is also a paramount consideration.  

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Glympse

Glympse work around the "notion of at-a-glance-tracking system".

This app lets the user decide on who we want to see his/her GPS location, sort of now-you-see-now-you-dont style. Adding to this feature is the option to assign a particular number of hours or days that you wanted to track a speficic person. 

A classic example here is you wanted your children and wife aware of location, say, after an anti-EJK meeting, you would your love ones to have a realtime location feed on your whereabouts. The only lapside of the app however is that it cannot trace the name of the policeman, should you be picked up for a "napagkamalan" sort of police apprehension. 

It can however provide the user with data on your time of arrival thru email, text or social network. Definitely, if you are working in something against the percieved wrongdoings of the State, this app is a must have! 

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Life360 Family Locator

One of the best features of this app is it lets family members know a child's expected arrival at a pre-defined place, say a school or meeting place. 

                            

The app also includes a full location history, which is nice for an overview of recent activity. The built-in "panic" option sends out an emergency beacon to designated emails, text and phones with your exact location of your GPS coordinates. The app can also be used to message family members.

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Find My Friends

This app may be considered a realtime bulletim-board for a group of friends sharing location information plus a component of real-time messaging system.

Headed for a rally for a few days in Liwasang Binifacio? Plan and coordinate with your comrades with this app before getting in to your respective vehicles. No worries, this app can broadcast your location should authorities intercepted your course and plan to pull you down for several counts of drug peddling or any other out of this world warrants. 

Like other apps of its kind, this one uses Google Maps at its heart, so it's a breeze to learn and understand. Along these lines, the map automatically lists places such as police stations......NO! not the police stations!, fire departments and hospitals, among other.

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Again, let me state that during these unusual times of fervor. we need to innovate to protect ourselves and our love ones. 

The Philippine Congress just recently set a P1000.00 budget for the Commission on Human Rights.

The figures on EJK victims is rising, and it seems that it will progress in the next five years! 

The Marcoses are still clinging in to their powers and seemingly being cuddled by the present administration. 

So, what is left to do when the State structures seemed to turn their backs from us, citizens? 

Find ways to be safe. Innovate tactics to resist! ....the Android way.

Where's the $10B Marcos Loot?

Thirty one (31) years after the 1986 Edsa Revolution, the question still remained unanswered; where is the $10B worth of the suspected loot by the Marcos family?

Official US customs record specified what the fleeing Marcos family had in their coffers during the said "exodus". In its 23-page records, the fleeing Marcos family had in their plane 23 wooden crates; 12 suitcases and bags, various boxes that contain clothes, 413 pieces of jewelry, 70 pairs of jewel-studded cufflinks; an ivory statue of infant Jesus with a silver mantle and a diamond necklace; 24 gold bricks which are presents for the marcos couple for thier 24th anniversary; and more than P27M freshly printed. These items sums up to a total value of $15M.

photo credit to the guardian.com

This amassed amount is generally enough to sustain the family's needs for at least a year while in exile and seeking diplomatic support from other countries. With the amount, they could actually acquire a luxurious mansion in U.S., start a business, say jewelry store or pawnshop and buy properties for future spending. Meaning, the Marcos family have in their hands a significant amount of money!

However, according to a subsequent estimate by the the supreme court of the Philippines En Banc decision, the Marcoses have actually accumulated up to $658M while in office, inclusive of interest.
Such amount, according to Eimor P. Santos of CNN where actually acquired through the following arrangements and means;

• Outright takeover of large private enterprises
• Creation of state-owned monopolies in vital sectors of the economy
• Awarding government loans to private individuals acting as fronts for Marcos or his cronies
• Direct raiding of the public treasury and government financial institutions
• Kickbacks and commissions from firms working in the Philippines
• Skimming off foreign aid and other forms of international assistance

Meanwhile, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), the Philippine government's agency tasked to sequester all the assets, including proceeds, of the said ill-gotten wealth; these includes accumulated amount Marcos' immediate family members, relatives, subordinates and close associates. 

PCGG has been working for almost 31 years. It is composed of 94 lawyers, researchers and adminsitrators operating in a building, which is also recovered form the Marcos family. Said agency as an annual budget of $2.2M for all of its operations. The following is a run-down of what's our government is after in the context of the Marcos' Ill gotten wealth.

More than the COC Gems. Initially estimated at P377 million, PCGG confiscated the jewelry collection of former first lady and now Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos. These will be revalued and auctioned at the Bangko Sental ng Pilipinas (BSP), upon which proceeds will go directly to the Beaureu of Treasury. 

The jewelry sets include gem and diamond-studded tiaras, bracelets, and necklaces from the Hawaii collection — which were seized from the Marcoses upon their arrival in Honolulu on February 26, 1986. These have been stored in a vault at the BSP.

photo not mine. credits to owner (AFP Romeo Gacad)

The Crown Building. Formerly known as the Heckscher Building, it is located at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street in New York, was sold at an auction for $93.6 million, a 1991 New York Times article reported. The building was purchased in 1981 by then Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos. Marcos used international companies to purchase the building secretly, also obtaining help from Ralpy and Joseph Bernstein as well as Adnan Khashoggi. (wikkipedia.org)

photo credits to wikkipedia.org

Old Masters paintings and antique silver. There are eighty-two (82) masters paintings and 71 boxes of antique silverware stampped as Philippine government property, and were auctioned in New York for $13,302,604.86. Such items were seized from the Palace and from the Metropolitan Museum in Manila. 

"In 1991, the New York Times also reported that the U.S. government sold 25 Khashoggi paintings, dubbed as such because these were seized from wealthy Saudi businessman Adnan Khashoggi in 1987. These were reportedly acquired from Imelda Marcos in the previous year and led to her and Khashoggi's indictment for racketeering and fraud" - CNN Philippines.

photo credits to owner @CNN Philippines

Multi-million dollar bank deposits. A sum of $627M of the families bank deposit were acquired from Switzerland based from the ruling of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court. Currently, the said accounts was placed under an escrow account in the Philippines in PNB. An Escrow account generally refers to money held by a third-party on behalf of transacting parties (wikkipedia). 

When the first efforts to recover the Marcos Swiss accounts were initiated, the amount was only $398 million. Now, it has risen to $676 million! But the best part is that the money is already in our treasury coffers.

photo credit to indiatoday.in

Multi-million dollar assets from Marcos’ dummy corporation. Then President Ferdinand Marcos formed Arelma, S.A. (Arelma) in 1972 under Panamanian law. That same time, Arelma opened a brokerage account with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. (Merrill Lynch) in New York, depositing $2 million. By 2000, the account had grown to approximately $35 million.

Amid several claimants — including Arelma itself, the Philippine government, and human rights victims — the Sandiganbayan declared the Arelma-held assets forfeited in favor of the Philippine government in 2009. In 2012, the Supreme Court (SC) affirmed the anti-graft court's decision.

Photo credits to CNN

Baguio property. Auctioned off for more than US$2 million. The 3,900-square-meter (41,000-square-foot) lot in the mountain resort city of Baguio was acquired by a real estate firm for P93 million ($2.16 million). PCGG said that at least 93.4 billion pesos have been recovered from the Marcoses and their allies so far. But it has long complained that the lack of a paper trail and delaying tactics by lawyers for the Marcos estate have hampered its efforts.

Lot on Roxas Boulevard. A 4,038-square meter commercial and residential lot on Roxas Boulevard in Parañaque City known as the "Mapalad property" was auctioned off for P247.11 million. The property was surrendered to the Corazon Aquino government in 1986 also by Campos. In June 2013, the PCGG turned over the proceeds to the BTr.

Properties in San Juan, Pasig and Quezon City. Confiscated properties worth P157 million from the estate of late National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Jolly Bugarin were sold at an auction.

The combined winning bids were for a house and lot measuring 727 square meters in North Greenhills, San Juan; a 721-square meter property in Valle Verde III in Pasig; and a 582-square meter lot in Capitol Hills, Diliman Quezon City.

Authentic Gobillard paintings. On the orders of the Sandiganbayan, authorities seized 15 paintings from Imelda Marcos' residence in San Juan City — 11 of these were found to be authentic works of French impressionist Paule Gobillard.

All the paintings were estimated to be worth $1 million.

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P166B returned to government so far

In the latest 2013 annual report of the PCGG, P166.2 billion of Marcos’ ill-gotten wealth has already been turned over to the national treasury.

Majority (47%) went to the funding for the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program and the coconut industry (43%), while the rest will go mostly to compensation for human rights victims and the Office of the President.

Post-Script: 

Meanwhile, as the PCGG and other cause-oreinted groups are all willing and eager to recover the Marcos Il-gotten wealth, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told the press of his plans of proposing an "unholy" agreement with the Marcos family in behalf of the Filipino people. 

"The Marcoses – I will not name the spokesman – said that they'll open everything and probably return those [ill-gotten wealth] that had been discovered. They said maybe this year, the projected deficit spending would be big," the President said.

Meanwhile, Duterte reiterated his plan to dismantle the PCGG but however changed his mind following the latest development.   The President said he was instead scouting for at least three persons who can negotiate with the Marcoses regarding their plan to return the gold bars to the Philippine government.   He said he may pick mediators who are "not identified with [him] nor identified with the other group."   "I want to abolish it but the people might say that on the verge of discovering something, it has been dismantled," the President said.   "Trying to look for a guy not identified with anybody to handle the negotiation, if they want. I’m looking at a former Chief Justice, then another CPA and maybe a representative of all that is accepted also by all so that three individuals can do the negotiation,"  

Read more: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2017/08/29/duterte-marcos-family-willing-return-few-gold-bars-561106

With the pending circumstances, the Filipino nation is at the brink of witnessing how a country leader would engage such an agreement with the family of a former President, tainted with corruption and massive human rights violations.