Palace, Rappler lock horns over Abella statement

Malacañang on Friday accused online news site Rappler of "misrepresenting" the statement of presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella regarding information being fed to President Rodrigo Duterte.

A statement issued by the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson on Friday said Rappler "brazenly misrepresents Spokesperson Ernesto Abella's explanation that the President was responding to media's false report of the fake 'EU Mission'."

It was referring to story "Malacanang Admits Duterte Being Fed Wrong Info on EU," which was posted earlier in the day.

"It is this kind of journalism that reinforces the perception that Rappler has a hidden agenda. One that is far from the truth," the statement read.

At a press briefing earlier in the day, Abella, when asked if Duterte was either misinformed or misled by some reports when he berated the European Union, said the President was reacting to what he was reading.

Here is Malacañang's transcript of the exchange between GMA News' reporter Joseph Morong and Abella during the Mindanao Hour briefing:

Mr. Morong: So sir, uhm sir, ibig bang sabihin niyan, medyo misinformed si Presidente?

PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESPERSON ABELLA: It’s not a question of being misinformed. Basically, ‘yun ang… Come again?

Mr. Morong: Misled siguro by certain reports?

PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESPERSON ABELLA: Basically, he was reacting to what he was reading, okay. He was reacting to what he was reading and… So it’s not a question of being misinformed. That means to say he was being fed the wrong information, but based on…

At that point, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez spoke to say that he too was surprised when he saw reports about the supposed EU mission that was criticizing Duterte's bloody war on drugs. Later, it turned out that the mission was not an official EU delegation.

Rappler, in a rebuttal posted Friday night, said it is standing by its story.

Duterte has also claimed that Rappler and other investigative news sites are being funded by the Central Intelligence Agency. Rappler has denied this. —KBK, GMA News