Rappler tells Duterte: Fake news peddlers not far from Malacañang

After President Rodrigo Duterte accused Rappler of being a fake news outlet, the online site on Wednesday fought back and said that the Chief Executive should take a look at his own backyard.

"The President knows who produces fake news in the Philippines, and it certainly is not Rappler. He doesn't have to look far from where he sits in Malacañang," it said in a statement.

Duterte, while defending Special Assistant to the President Secretary Christopher "Bong" Go over his alleged interference in the Philippine Navy's selection of the weapons system supplier for the P15.7-billion frigate program, branded the Rappler report fake.

"But since you are a fake news outlet then I am not surprised that your articles are also fake," he said.

Go, who also heads the Presidential Management Staff, denied the report, which was first published on the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

In a text message to reporters, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana also said: "Never nakialam si Bong sa frigate project."

Duterte, for his part, pointed out that Go is a billionaire and the military would never tolerate corruption. 

Fake news

The Duterte administration has been accused of spreading fake news online through an alleged troll army. For instance, Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary for Social Media Mocha Uson has been tagged as a fake news peddler by Duterte's critics over her erroneous posts. Along with other PCOO officials, Uson also faced the Senate in an inquiry about fake news. 

But Malacañang had repeatedly denied these accusations. 

"I can assure you that there is no budgetary line item for payment of trolls in the social media as far as this administration is concerned. And again I can only point to myself as living proof that there cannot be any official funding or even sanction on the activities of pro-Duterte trolls because as I said, had this been the case, then we would have prevented the vicious attacks against me," presidential spokesperson Harry Roque previously said.  — RSJ, GMA News