(Unsplash)

House Deputy Majority Leader La Union 1st district Rep. Paolo Ortega has dubbed as "questionable" the supposed pro-Duterte rally videos on Facebook that have "pink lights" in them.

Ortega made this remark in a press conference Thursday, March 20, as he commented on the alleged spread of spliced or doctored videos of pro-Duterte rallies.

"Kailangan talagang maging discerning no, lalo na itong paglaganap ng fake news. Kasi nakita ko yung mga demonstration tsaka rally, puro pink naman yung ilaw (We really need to be discerning, especially with the spread of fake news. Because I when saw the demonstrations and rallies, there were pink lights)," he said.

"Iisa lang naman ang grupo na nakita kong nagkaroon ng malalaking demonstrasyon at tsaka rally na pink ang kanilang background na lighting (There's only one group that can hold huge demonstrations and rallies with pink background lighting)," Ortega said.

"So doon pa lang, kako, parang questionable yung mga ito (So on that detail alone, these videos are questionable)," he noted.

While he didn't mention it, Ortega was obviously alluding to past rallies held in support of former vice president Leni Robredo. Robredo, a Liberal Party (LP) stalwart, calls her supporters "kakampinks", a portmanteau of "kakampi (ally)" and the color pink.

House members have raised alarm over the glut of fake news in social media the past few days, especially after former president Rodrigo Duterte was ordered arrested and detained by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague in the Netherlands. 

The fake news included videos of alleged massive, pro-Duterte rallies in the country that were in truth demonstations by other groups and simply overlayed with chants of "Duterte! Duterte!". 

Sometimes, these videos would turn out to be unreleased protests from Argentina and Serbia, just to name two.

Asked point blank in the presser if he believed the Robredo campaign footage had been stolen in the creation of these fake news, Ortega said that the videos were in the public space.

"Di ko rin sinasabi na galing doon sa kanila ha, sinasabi ko lang na yung background na ilaw ay pink (I'm not saying that the footage came from there, I'm just saying that the background light was pink)," he said.

"Pero pwedeng imbestigahan siguro ng mga kasama naming journalist na nandito (But this can be investigated by the journalists here)," Ortega said.