The office of detained opposition senator Leila de Lima is asking social media giant Facebook to investigate why her official page became inaccessible for an hour and a half on Thursday, May 13.

In a statement, De Lima’s office said the senator’s official Facebook page was inaccessible for desktop and laptop users from 12 pm to 1:30 pm on Thursday. 

De Lima’s staff said the Facebook pages of other opposition figures were also reportedly “shut down,” but did not specify any names. 

“It has come to our attention that our official page, Leila de Lima Official, has been inaccessible on desktop and laptop from 12 pm to 1:30 pm today. Official pages of other members of the opposition were also reportedly shut down,” said De Lima’s office. 

“We should not let this pass! We urge Facebook to monitor and investigate this incident, and to make the necessary actions to ensure that this will not happen again,” it added.

De Lima’s page was already accessible as of 2:30 pm on Thursday. But her last post about the death of KMP vice chairperson JC Canlas was made at 12:20 pm or during the period her staff said the page was inaccessible via laptop or desktop. A staff of the senator said they were still able to make this post using the Facebook mobile app.

The senator’s office is now coordinating with Facebook Philippines to determine what happened to her page. 

Still, De Lima’s office is hoping this is not part of an organized attack by supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte, under whose regime saw the weaponization of the internet in a bid to silence critics of the government. 

“We hope that this is not an organized attack. Amid these challenging times, when social media serve as a very significant vehicle to disseminate truthful and useful information to the public, we have witnessed how the Duterte regime and those with sinister motives and selfish interests weaponize paid trolls to curtail truthful reporting, free speech and critical thinking, and instead propagate disinformation, misinformation, negativism and hate speech,” said De Lima’s office. 

De Lima, one of Duterte’s fiercest critics, has been imprisoned for 4 years over what she has described as trumped-up drug charges against her. 

The opposition senator is on trial for two conspiracy to commit drug trading charges. She was earlier acquitted of one of those 3 charges. – Rappler.com