Garin calls out Medialdea for 'fake news' on Duterte’s health
At A Glance
- House Deputy Majority Leader Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin has called out former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea for supposedly spreading false information that the health concerns of former president Rodrigo Duterte were not taken care of.
Salvador Medialdea, ex-president Rodrigo Duterte's former executive secretary
House Deputy Majority Leader Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin has called out former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea for supposedly spreading false information that the health concerns of former president Rodrigo Duterte were not taken care of.
This, after Duterte, 79, was arrested and turned over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands for a charge of crimes against humanity.
"Makita ko nagsasalita si former executive secretary nung sinabi niya na si presidente [Duterte], dineprive ng kanyang mga gamot, ng healthcare, mahinang-mahina at hindi binigyan ng karapatan na ipadala sa ospital,” recalled Garin, a former Department of Health (DOH) secretary, in an online press conference Friday, March 14.
(I saw what the former executive secretary said, when he claimed that the president was deprived of medicine, healthcare, and was not given the right to go a hospital despite his weakened state.)
Garin warned that fake news peddling end up "triggering" violence if the uninformed public takes action on such news.
“‘Paano ‘yung mga taong hindi nakakaintindi, baka maniwala, baka magkasakitan, baka may mga gawin…dahil nga sa pinanggalingang fake news? (How about the people who can't understand, they might believe this, there might be violence, they might do something...because of this fake news?) Who will be accountable, will the former executive secretary be accountable?” she asked.
Garin said Medialdea's claim regarding Duterte’s health was untrue, and that the ICC, which had detained the former president, was taking care of the ex-president,
“And ‘yun naman pala, hindi naman totoo (It ended up as not being true)...sa pagkakaintindi ko (based on my understanding), in the history of the ICC they are straight forward. Hindi sila nang-aapi (they don't oppress people), like you will be treated well. Kaya lang, siyempre may proceso (But of course, there's a process),” she said.
Medialdea serves as Duterte's counsel in the ICC case.