Cayetano: Groups out to 'sabotage' SEA Games not from media

Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday cleared the media from the supposed attempt to "sabotage" the Philippines’ hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

Cayetano made the clarification a day after he accused members of the media of spreading "fake news" designed to put the country in bad light in connection with the SEA Games.

FULL COVERAGE: 30th Southeast Asian Games on GMA News Online

"Ang nagsabi sa akin sa media, ang sinabi sa akin may umiikot na pera [para] siraan [ang bansa]. Pero walang tumatanggap, dahil para sa ating bansa ito. Kaya panay website na anonymous ang naglalabas," Cayetano, who chairs the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (PHISCOG), said in a radio interview.

"Pero at the same time, yung nago-operate ngayon at nakita na namin kung anong mga website ito, at kung sinong PR man nito, maghanda rin kayo dahil kasama kayo sa imbestigasyon dahil yung pinalabas niyong pinakain namin ng baboy ang mga kapatid nating Muslim at pinalabas niyo na yung swimming pool ng Nepal ay swimming pool natin, etc. Sabotahe ‘yan,” he added.

Cayetano had earlier said that members of the media admitted to him that there are media outfits out to sabotage the SEA Games hosting of the Philippines.

"We have our own analytics, our own metrics system that's available to you. It was only 4 to 5 websites na nagtapon ng fake news... Ilan sa media umamin sa amin na may umaagos na pera na siraan ang SEA Games," Cayetano said on Thursday.

Cayetano's statement on Thursday prompted a rebuke from the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP), who said they "specially take exception" to his claims.

FOCAP stressed that such sweeping accusations made by Cayetano sans evidence and laced with threats of libel suits are “totally unacceptable and tend to intimidate journalists from reporting irregularities objectively.”

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines has likewise cried foul over the government blaming journalists for the negative issues that hounded the Philippines' handling of the sports event, saying it is "ridiculously unacceptable when the officials responsible for the disaster resort to bashing media as well." —Llanesca T. Panti/KBK, GMA News