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Rodriguez calls on gov't to go after Chinese media outlet for fake news on WPS

Philippines | National

Rodriguez calls on gov't to go after Chinese media outlet for fake news on WPS

By Joseph Pedrajas

At A Glance

Cagayan de Oro 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez has urged the government to go after Chinese state-owned media Media Unlocked amid the false narratives it is allegedly peddling about the West Philippine Sea (WPS) and the country's officials.

Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (PPAB)

Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (PPAB)

Cagayan de Oro 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez has urged the government to go after Chinese state-owned media Media Unlocked amid the false narratives it is allegedly peddling about the West Philippine Sea (WPS) and the country's officials.

His call came on Saturday, June 7 after the outlet allegedly twisted facts in favor of China on the WPS issue.

"And then their narrative on WeChat was twisted. That’s what China is doing there. There’s a video going viral of Brawner supposedly refusing to answer questions about provisions in the South China Sea," Rodriguez said, referring to a video where Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Romeo Brawner appeared.

The media outlet reported that Brawner refused to answer a question from its journalists regarding the WPS issue. But Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said Brawner did so because the interviewers "were asking so rudely".

Teodoro even tagged them as "pretend journalists".

“They are peddling false narratives on the [WPS], our government and our officials,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez then lauded Brawner for standing up to China as well as Teodoro for calling world attention to China’s aggression in the WPS in the recent Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

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