AFTER receiving flak for saying truth could not be discerned without fake news, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. clarified Wednesday, January 31, that the Duterte government is not tolerating the emergence of fake news.
Roque gave assurance that the current administration would take a stand against the widespread circulation of erroneous information termed as "fake news."
He said fake news would have "no place" in the government.
"For sure and to be clear, fake news, as is known today, should find no place as a matter of governmental policy," the Palace official said in a statement.
Since President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office in June 2016, there have been public debates on the alarming rise of fake news in the country through different social media sites.
On Sunday, January 28, Roque decried that he was a victim of fake news from "prestigious publications" that supposedy reported false information about his recent remarks on the Philippine Rise, formerly called Benham Rise.
The presidential spokesman's earlier statement has drawn controversy among his critics.
Roque said his previous remark should not be considered as "governmental encouragement."
Likening the Philippines' situation to the United States (US), he said America also had a "sordid history" in "penny press" that promoted "quackery and all sorts of things" but its jurisprudence on free speech passed jugment that solution was "never governmental censorship but better journalism."
Roque said Filipino netizens should discern truth from falsehood.
"What I said earlier that without fake news we would not know what is true news should not be taken as governmental encouragement of fake news. Far from it," Roque said.
"Enlightened citizens should be able to pick out chaff from grain and appreciate what good journalism is about," he added. (Ruth Abbey Gita/VoxPop Philippines)