Misamis Occidental Governor Henry Oaminal and the Police Provincial Office (PPO) cautioned the public against suspicious activities on the former’s official Facebook page after unauthorized access was detected on Monday night.
“As soon as we learned about the Facebook page hacking incident, we reported it to Facebook,” Gov. Oaminal shared in a statement. The Regional Anti-Cyber Crime Unit 10 was immediately tapped as well, according to the Governor, and is “closely monitoring and investigating the incident, to ensure that our services are not hampered in any way and to regain access to and control over our page.”
The PPO, in a separate statement, said they “will be vigilant on the posts and other activities” on the Facebook page.
Gov. Oaminal assured Misamisnons that the incident will not hinder the provincial government from “providing good services to our people in the province, because this won’t stop us from achieving the Provincial thrust, which is the 5Ms.”
The ‘5Ms’ or ‘Misamisnon Magpuyong Malinawon, Malambuon ug Malipayon’ (Misamisnon Live Peaceful, Prosperous and Happy) is one of Gov. Oaminal’s flagship initiatives for the province.
Over the previous weeks, a string of hacks on verified Facebook pages have been reported by different cabinet agencies and public offices, including the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s National Capital Region office, the Department of Science and Technology’s industry, energy, and technology research and development council, Davao City’s traffic management office, and Iloilo’s provincial police office, among others.
“It’s unfortunate to be among those that have been hacked. But while we wait for this issue to be resolved, our work at the provincial capitol continues as usual,” said Gov. Oaminal. “Meanwhile, we would like to remind Misamisnons and fellow Filipinos to exercise precaution when viewing social media, and to always verify the information they read.”
