Charles Teves
President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration denies ever having online trolls attack Vice President Leni Robredo, but not a lot of people believe the claim.
Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said that the government has no association with trolls going after Robredo and spreading disinformation about her.
“Although independent social media accounts remain critical of Vice-President Leni Robredo and her role in our collective fight against the virus, which may have truly contributed to the ‘disinformation wall’ she is encountering, we assure everyone that the Duterte administration has nothing to do with these critical social media voices,” Andanar said.
His statement came after Robredo’s camp attributed her low public trust and approval ratings to the “disinformation wall.”
However, netizens find it hard to take Andanar’s word.
https://twitter.com/PinoyAkoBlog/status/1314087960095027203?s=20
https://twitter.com/PinoyAkoBlog/status/1314478268788088834?s=20
Let us flood Mon Cualoping’s facebook post with comment. Ipakita natin sa kanya kung gaano kalakas ang pwersa ni VP Leni. We must start showing them the force they have to deal with. https://t.co/rsIqcDiVNf
— Ryan (@rryyyaaaannnn) October 9, 2020
Robredo’s spokesman Barry Gutierrez previously said that the approval numbers were relatively lower to other government officials due to attacks and fake news from the trolls. He said that Robredo doesn’t share the same communication infrastructure as the Palace in informing the public about her programs.
“Since we don’t really have access to the same level of communications infrastructure as Malacañang, and we are under constant attack by trolls and other people who persist in spreading fake news online about the VP, we’re really hitting a disinformation wall and we have to deal with that every day that we are striving to work for the Filipino public,” Gutierrez said in a recent statement.
Andanar also said that the said trolls are “independent” and the administration will never employ trolls “to divide our society.”
“More to the point, the administration will never employ ‘social media trolls’ to divide our society,” he said.
The recent Pulse Asia survey has Robredo at the fourth place in the list of the most trusted government officials with a 57-percent approval rating and a 50-percent trust rating. Duterte sits at the top with 91 percent in both categories and is trailed by Senate President Vicente Sotto III, and Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.
Andanar said that the government has problems with the disinformation wall as well.
“In fact, the Duterte administration faces as well a ‘disinformation wall’, apart from the countless false information being spread online by entities and groups,” he said.
But with the Presidential Communications Operations Office’s recent efforts to keep the public “engaged and informed,” the wall was taken down, Andanar added.
He credited Duterte’s “outstanding” trust and approval scores to the public’s response to the government’s programs and policies.
“Moreover, such recognition and appreciation of the President are also due to the Duterte administration’s apparent, proactive, and comprehensive actions and responses against COVID-19. This as we continue to minimize both the infection and death rates, while aggressively expanding our recovery rate,” he said.
The PCOO stated that it will will keep on spreading information about government’s program to the public, especially on the COVID-19 response.
