MALACAÑANG yesterday said the continued spread of fake news, disinformation and misinformation against the government and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. contributed to the drop in his approval and trust ratings.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro, in a briefing, said the fake news supposedly overshadowed the good news and the accomplishments of the Marcos administration.
“So, kung ang mga tao man na ito ay nagbigay ng kanilang mga opinyon, marahil ay bunga ito ng mga fake news (So, if the people [survey respondents] gave their opinion, this is probably a product of fake news),” she said, noting a Reuters special report on the findings of Israel-based disinformation watchdog Cyabra on the high rate of coordinated online disinformation in the Philippines.
She cited the Reuters report which stated that “the level of coordinated disinformation seen in the Philippines was far above the typical seven percent to 10 percent range of online conversation globally, about highly sensitive or polarizing issues.”
Castro likewise pointed to the number of respondents of the Pulse Asia survey, and the timing of the conduct of the poll, which was done shortly after the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte and transported to the Netherlands where he is now detained in relation to the crimes against humanity case filed before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The Pulse Asia survey, conducted from March 23 to 29, showed the trust and performance ratings of Marcos dropping by 17 points to 25 percent from 42 percent in February.
The president’s disapproval rating, on the other hand, rose by 21 points to 53 percent.
Castro said the survey’s sample size of 2,400 respondents does not accurately reflect the sentiments of more than 100 million Filipinos.
Amid the development, Castro said the government is determined to find out if the respondents’ claims are true by checking if they had received accurate and correct news, if they had received or benefited from government programs, and how they have been affected by any of the decisions of the president or the programs of the administration.
Castro said the President is not bothered by the survey ratings and would just continue to do his work.
“Nanaisin pa rin po at ipapatupad pa rin ng Pangulo, kung ano ang ang nasa batas at kung ano ang tama at hindi kung ano po ang sasabihin sa isang survey (The president would continue to implement what is in the law and what is right and not what the survey dictates),” she said.
Castro also reiterated that one of the priorities of the Marcos administration is to fight fake news.
“We have this directive from the president that we should curtail fake news. Since day one, that we have been appointed, we were tasked to do our job, to spread the truth and not fake news… Sinabi po natin before na ang fake news makakapag-diskaril ng isipan ng tao, ng taumbayan [We have said before that fake news derails the minds of the people),” she said.
Castro said Marcos met with officials of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) in Malacañang yesterday to discuss ongoing efforts to tackle fake news and improve national connectivity.
She said details about the current efforts to improve national connectivity would be made public in due time but the public should expect improvements by June.
Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation yesterday filed a complaint against a Cebu City-based vlogger for allegedly spreading false and malicious information regarding NBI Director Jaime Santiago’s remarks about overseas Filipino workers.
Santiago did not identify the vlogger but said that the content he/she shared on his/her social media platform quoted him as saying he was threatening OFWs.
The NBI chief said his remarks were distorted to make it appear he was threatening OFWs when he was just answering reporters’ question in a media briefing about the action being taken by the government against social media content creators here and abroad who are believed to be spreading fake or false information about the government.
Santiago said he responded that if there is a warrant issued by the court, the vloggers can be arrested once they return to the country. – With Ashzel Hachero
