Filtered By: Topstories
News

Palace backs report linking investigative journos to Bikoy, destabilization


Malacañang on Monday backed a newspaper report that linked media organizations to a destabilization plot anchored on online videos alleging the involvement of President Rodrigo Duterte's family and his close associates to illegal drugs. 

Presidential spokesman Secretary Salvador Panelo presented to the media the matrix that appeared in the Manila Times but added that his copy came from Duterte himself.

He denied that Malacañang had a role in the newspaper's report.

"You will have to ask the President himself because siya ang source nitong matrix. O, di tanungin ninyo siya kung paano niya vinet, paano niya vinalidate," Panelo said when asked about the credibility of Duterte's information.

"I don’t know how it works. Tinanong ko nga si Presidente... If they ask this, tell them to ask me," he added.

‘You were being listened to’

Duterte said in a recent speech that those behind the supposed destabilization plot were being listened to by a foreign country.

"Hindi, hindi ko alam. Wala siya, hindi niya sinabi sa akin," Panelo said when asked which country the President was referring to.

Panelo said the purpose of the campaign was to discredit the administration.

"When you conspire with others, you don’t have to have the capacity because others would do it for you. In other words, what these people are doing is to give succor or assist the enemy, if they are not the enemy themselves," Panelo said.

"I think the purpose is for this government to lose credibility. That's how you destroy a government," he added.

The matrix showed the alleged flow of anti-Duterte information from the source to recipients including media outlets Vera Files and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, which recently ran articles about the wealth of the chief executive and some of his family members.

The document titled "Association Matrix Between Bikoy and Ellen Tordesillas" also identified the journalists and organizations such as the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers supposedly involved in the alleged plot to discredit the President.

Bikoy was the name given to the hooded man who accused the First Family, in a series of videos uploaded recently, of ties to illegal drugs while Tordesillas is the veteran journalist affiliated with Vera Files.

Tordesillas, Vera Files, PCIJ and Rappler have all denied any role to destabilize the government.

‘Counter propaganda’

Panelo said the government's "counter-propaganda" would consist of the achievements of the administration and the high popularity ratings of the President.

Panelo said the government would only take legal action against those involved in the alleged destabilization efforts if they committed overt acts to bring down the administration including making plans to carry out bombings and assassinations.

The Palace, however, does not see the need to monitor the activities of the journalists identified in the document.

"You don’t have to monitor, they are all there doing their thing, trying to destroy this government by spreading false news and planting intrigues against the government,” Panelo said.

The Palace official said they are ready to face libel charges with regard to the matrix.

"This is a democratic country. Everyone has the right to sue, whether or not it will prosper is another story. But we will not stop anybody from filing," he said. 

He added the Duterte government has never stifled dissent in the country.

"It's the President who encourages dissent. That is what democracy is all about. For the last three years, no journalist has been charged with any case in relation to his or her exercise of the freedom of the speech or of the press," Panelo said. —NB, GMA News

LOADING CONTENT