Vice President and opposition leader Leni Robredo said the comparison of her previous statements about the coronavirus lockdown were taken out of context.
According to Robredo, it was another attempt to mislead the public as part of the continuous campaign to spread lies and fake news about her.
The vice president was reacting to a social media post with a message, “Sino kaya ang totoong Leni?”, which compared two news headlines published in the past weeks.
In an article published on June 25, news website GMA News Online (gmanetwork.com) quoted Robredo’s remark, “Extended lockdown won’t help in fight vs. COVID-19.”
This was based on her interview with ABS-CBN News Channel where she was asked if the extended lockdown was the only solution to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases.
Last weekend’s Rappler article headlined with Robredo stressing the need for the government to listen to the plea of medical frontliners of a two-week lockdown.
The vice president slammed deliberate efforts to spread false information even in this time of pandemic.
“Sa gitna ng krisis, higit na importante ang ating pagkakaisa at ang tama at makabuluhang impormasyon (In the middle of a crisis, our unity and having correct and meaningful are more important),” Robredo said in a Facebook post.
“Hinihikayat natin ang lahat na maging mapagmatyag at mapanuri sa mga nababasa sa social media (We encourage everyone to be vigilant and discerning on what they read on social media),” she added.
This is not the first time that online misinformation targeted the lady official during the public health crisis.
Last June, fake social media posts claimed that she and her team had distributed spoiled food at Diliman Doctors Hospital in Quezon City. Both Robredo and the hospital denied the incident took place.