Former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales told the public on Saturday, September 11, not to be afraid to fight against fake news and misinformation even if it angers “some officials who do not know their limitations.”

She said that it is bothersome when people don’t already know how to “discern, distinguish, and detect misdeeds” because there was “no effort to correct facts” in the past.

“They (officials) are impervious to criticisms. In fact, nagagalit na sila. Tinatakot sila (they are getting angry. They are being threatened). I caution you, don’t be scared,” Carpio-Morales said during the online forum on “Accountability, Check and Balance, Transparency and Red-Flagging.”

The 1Sambayan convenor added that “people should be bothered” when the leaders themselves “could not figure out what is right and wrong.”

“When leaders seem to send a message promoting rather than condemning, this reprehensible acts that transgress basic human rights the people ought to be concern about it rather than cheering for it,” Carpio-Morales said.

But out of “blind loyalty, sheer ignorance, or callous conscience,” people seem to not mind that even their own leaders are promoting fake news.

READ: Facebook, Twitter should weed out trolls by requiring use of real names — Carpio

The former Supreme Court associate justice criticized that another way for some officials to seize “the opportunity to influence public opinion” is to resort to attacking the media.

“We should be thankful to the media: print, television...they are very active in bringing attention to the people,” Carpio-Morales said.

She highlighted the need to fight against “apathy and indifference” among the public, stressing the need to denounce corruption, participate in anti-corruption efforts, and familiarize themselves with anti-corruption success stories.

Carpio-Morales warned against “populist leaders” who, according to her presentation, “use public outrage for corrupt behavior to punish political adversaries.”

She quoted the Transparency International, which said that populist movements tend to present themselves as anti-corruption by “drawing on the idea that corrupt elites work against the interest of the people.”

“In many cases, however, such movements are not accompanied by an actual anti-corruption strategy and even facilitate new forms of corruption,)” the Transparency International had said.