By Raymund Antonio
Vice President Leni Robredo continues to fight back against more fake news about her being spread online.
(MANILA BULLETIN)
The Vice President did not mince words against those who have been caught spreading false information on social media, the latest of which she supposedly asked Congress to “allow early campaigning for Liberal Party candidates.”
She said in a tweet Friday: “Another attempt to mislead the public, and way too obvious where it has been coming from all along.”
Facebook user Christian Pido posted a screenshot of a supposed Manila Bulletin news item. Its caption reads: “Wow!!! Gusto ni Leni na special treatment para sa mga animal na Liberal.”
But the Manila Bulletin disowned the news item and said it was only an “edited” version of one of its published articles, titled “Robredo asks Congress to restore law vs. early, premature campaigning.”
“We would like to clarify that this is a hoax and was never published in the Manila Bulletin. We ask the public to be cautious and responsible when sharing information online to prevent further confusion,” it said.
The Vice President has been constantly a target of malicious stories and fake news online since she won the vice presidency in 2016.
Robredo posted on Twitter that the camp of former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was behind the fake news after Pido shared it to the group of Marcos loyalists on the social networking site.
“Magta-tatlong taon na, patuloy pa rin ang panlilinlang dahil hindi matanggap ang pagkatalo. (It’s almost three years, the misinformation continues because he can’t accept defeat),” she said.
Robredo defeated Marcos by a narrow 263,473 votes in the vice presidential race. She is facing an election protest filed by Marcos on allegations that she cheated in the 2016 polls.
The Vice President then called on the public to be “more vigilant vs. rampant misinformation.”
Robredo, the leader of the opposition, also reacted to a Facebook post that her Angat Buhay housing project in Marawi has “no water supply...no rain no water. No electricity...”
The post is a screenshot of an October 26 tweet of @dutertardme showing photos of “Leni’s housing Agaw-Buhay project.”
“Even our Angat Buhay Village for displaced Marawi residents wasn’t spared from blatant disinformation,” she tweeted.