LOOK who’s talking now.
Rep. France Castro yesterday slammed what she called Vice President Sara Duterte’s “hypocrisy” for telling campus journalists attending this year’s National Schools Press Conference (NSPC) in Carcar, Cebu last Monday to never lie and print fake news.
“It’s ironic that VP Sara Duterte is now lecturing students about not printing or circulating false information when she herself has been engaged in red-tagging and spreading fake news,” she said. “This is the height of hypocrisy coming from someone who, in 2019, even claimed that ‘all candidates lie.’”
During the campaign period for the 2019 midterm elections, Duterte, then the mayor of Davao City, assailed then Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano, a senatorial candidate of the opposition slate Otso Diretso, for claiming that government funds were used in printing the campaign t-shirts of then Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) senatorial candidate and now Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go.
The Vice President said then that honesty should not be an election issue because “there is no single candidate who does not lie.”
Castro, a member of the militant Makabayan bloc, said Duterte was giving students advice about honesty when she does not practice what she preaches as shown by her track record.
“How can VP Duterte tell students to ‘never print or post or circulate something that you know is not the truth’ when she has been at the forefront of spreading disinformation through red-tagging? This double standard is alarming and sets a dangerous precedent for our youth,” she said.
In her message to the students, the Vice President also told the budding journalists never to assume, adding that opinion writers should know the difference between assumption and opinion.
Castro emphasized the importance of integrity in public service, especially from high-ranking officials.
“Public servants, particularly those in the highest positions of our government, should lead by example. They should embody the values of honesty and truthfulness that they preach to our students,” she said.
The ACT Teachers representative also questioned the sincerity of Duterte’s warnings against destroying people’s lives or the image of organizations through false information.
“These words ring hollow coming from someone who has actively participated in damaging the reputation of progressive organizations and individuals through baseless accusations and red-tagging,” Castro said. “As VP Duterte prepares to step down from her post as Education Secretary, we hope she reflects on her own actions and the impact of her words. Our students and our nation deserve leaders who not only speak about the importance of truth but also consistently practice it in their public service.”
