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Journos urge PCOO to come clean on Duterte's deleted rant vs. ABS-CBN


Several media organizations and individual journalists have called on Malacanang to come clean on why the broadcast of President Rodrigo Duterte's speech before troops in Jolo left out the parts in which he lashed out at ABS-CBN and other media and business groups.

Duterte's speech which was aired on Tuesday contained the portion in which he claimed he had dismantled the Philippine oligarchy. He made the remark just days after a House committee voted to deny ABS-CBN's franchise application.

“The [Presidential Communications Operations Office]—which controls the government's vast communications apparatus—owes the people an explanation for why President Rodrigo Duterte's speech to troops in Jolo, Sulu was sanitized," the media groups said in a statement.

"The least you owe the people you profess to serve is the truth, no more no less,” he added.

Among the signatories of the statement include representatives from the following groups: 

  • Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility;
  • Philippine Press Institute;
  • National Union of Journalists of the Philippines;
  • Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism;
  • MindaNews;
  • Davao Today;
  • Altermidya Network; and
  • Kodao Productions, among other individual journalists.

Individual journalists also signed the statement.

“These edits belie the claims of presidential spokesman Harry Roque, who was not in Jolo, and Senator Bong Go, who said that Duterte’s reference to dismantling oligarchs referred to other tycoons, although he did mention some of them in the speech,” the journalists said.

A raw audio clip showed that Duterte first mentioned a fault he blamed on ABS-CBN before going on to claim that he had dismantled the oligarchy.

“Yun namang ABS-CBN, binaboy ako. Pero sinabi ko kapag ako nanalo, bubuwagin  ko ang oligarchy  ng Pilipinas. Ginawa ko," went Duterte's remark which was not aired on state-run PTV.

The broadcast, in contrast to the audio obtained by multiple journalists and which authenticity was not disputed by the Palace, also omitted this line from the President: “At saka 'yang mga komunista, mga leftist, 'yang mga Rappler - kung ano-ano mga pinagsasabi. Pagsira. Ang masakit diyan, ang may-ari, Amerikano.”

The journalists said such editing was manipulative and reeked of not being trustworthy, considering that the words of the Chief executive carry the weight of policy.

In addition, the group argued that it was unlikely that the PCOO edited the speech without the approval of the President or, at the very least, his closest subalterns.

“How can people continue to trust the government's pronouncements when the President's very own words are manipulated and then twisted by those who speak on his behalf?” it said.

“How can we now be sure that the President's earlier pre-recorded pronouncements were not edited in the same way? We demand that government air all presidential pronouncements live and unfiltered,” it added.

 

Roque has insisted that the closure of ABS-CBN could not be attributed to Duterte even after the President’s fresh tirades against the network was revealed by the audio obtained by different media organizations.

“I cannot be wrong [that the President was not referring to ABS-CBN]. Documentary evidence would show that it was Congress who threw out the franchise application of ABS-CBN. That cannot be attributed to the President,” Roque said in an ANC interview.

“I am not spinning. I am repeating what the President said, that he takes pride in dismantling them [Ayalas and MVP],” he added.

When Roque was told that the water firms owned by these businessmen were still in business and not dismantled, Roque then redefined dismantling and interpreted it as a matter of protecting the public.

“The President was protecting public interest, protecting the public from the disadvantageous agreements with water concessionaires,” Roque said. -NB, GMA News

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