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BY PRINCE GOLEZ
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Sunday, June 11, 2017
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MANILA – Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre was peppered with criticisms for tagging several officials to the ongoing siege in Marawi City.
Sen. Leila de Lima described Aguirre as the “clown of this administration,” while Sen. Grace Poe said the Justice secretary was “like a troll” who “exploits and amplifies fake news.”
Senators Paolo Benigno Aquino and Antonio Trillanes IV and Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano, along with Ronald Llamas, political adviser of former president Benigno Aquino III, met with local leaders in Marawi on May 2, three weeks before the attack, Aguirre earlier claimed.
The meeting could “probably and possibly” spark the terroristic acts to destabilize the Duterte administration, Aguirre told the press on June 7. “Hindi ko malaman why after they went there, nagkagulo na after two weeks. They met with the people there. They met with several families there.”
Aguirre presented a photo of Trillanes, Alejano, Llamas, and several other officials meeting in a coffee shop as “proof.” Later it was known that the photo was taken at the Iloilo Airport after a League of Municipalities of the Philippines Visayas Conference in September 2015.
The Justice secretary claimed he was just “misquoted” by the press.
According to de Lima, the photograph as “evidence” was “as stupid as it is outrageous.”
“The objective of the fake news preceded any verification of the facts, which is to discredit the opposition’s anti-martial law call as a pro-Maute and pro-terrorist position,” she said.
De Lima and fellow minority senators Trillanes, Aquino, Franklin Drilon, Francis Pangilinan, and Risa Hontiveros voted against the passage of a resolution supporting martial law in Mindanao.
President Rodrigo Duterte placed the entire region under military rule on May 23 in response to the attack of the Islamic State-inspired Maute group.
Spreading fake news against those against the Mindanao martial law will “deodorize martial law and link those who oppose it to the Maute group or [IS],” said de Lima, now detained over drug charges.
Meanwhile Poe said she was “alarmed” by the proliferation of fake news on the internet. It has adversely affected public and private interests, said the chairwoman of the public information and mass media committee.
“What makes it worse is when the Justice secretary himself willingly exploits and amplifies such fake news like a troll without a modicum of effort to at least verify the same just to malign political opponents,” she said.
While Poe urged Aguirre to “faithfully do his duty to serve public interest, and that requires siding with the truth,” she also encouraged Congress to craft legislation against the spread of fake news online.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson advised Aguirre to check facts before taking action.
“Dapat i-fact-check mo, tapos check and recheck and recheck. ’Di pwedeng ’di sigurado ang info e ilalabas mo kaagad. Talagang ma-open ka ma-misquote o kaya makuryente,” said the former national police chief./PN
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