Manila – Palace denied spreading false and misleading information to advance its agenda as stated in a study conducted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
According to the NATO, the state-sponsored propaganda in the Philippines led to “silencing, self-censorship and chilling effects among dissenters and the public at large.”
“Alam mo ang fake news ay iisa lamang, fake. Whether saan man manggagaling ‘yan ay fake pa rin ‘yan. Ang gobyerno kailanman ay hindi pumapasok sa fake news,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.
“Diyan nga nagagalit si Presidente. Binabago ang facts and figures at hindi nagiging matapat. Hindi ba ‘yun ang palaging pakiusap ni Presidente sa lahat, ang gusto lang niya ay truth at fairness,” he added.
Panelo also denied that Duterte is using intimidation tactics to subvert democratic practices.
“Si Presidente, hindi nagkakaroon ng ganung intensyon. Si Presidente, isa lang panuntunan niya: bigyan ng proteksyon at pagsilbihan ang taumbayan. ‘Yun ang kanyang batayan sa lahat ng kanyang galaw bilang Presidente,” he said.
“Siya ang hina-harass ng mga kritiko, hindi siya nangha-harass. Pinapatupad niya lang kung ano batas,” he added.
The study, titled “Politics and Profit in the Fake News Factory: Four Work Models of Political Trolling in the Philippines,” was published by NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence.
Aside from the proliferation of fake news, the three other disinformation models of the Philippines are reportedly the in-house staff model, advertising and press release model and the clickbait model, according to the report./PN
