Palace: People Power not a product of 'fake news'

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque has an answer to an online poll by Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson: The 1986 EDSA Revolution is not "fake news."

 

In a press briefing on Monday, Roque asserted that the EDSA 1986 revolution is not a product of "fake news."

 

 

 

"According to the law, we honor the EDSA revolution, having declared it as a public holiday. We even appropriate funds to commemorate the event," Roque said.

 

President Rodrigo Duterte, who again skipped the commemoration of People Power, urged the Filipino people in his message to marking the anniversary of EDSA 1986 "to further enrich our democracy."

 

READ: Duterte urges Filipinos to 'further enrich democracy' on EDSA anniversary 

 

"We still recognize, and we will always recognize EDSA not only as an important historical event but it was the first bloodless people power revolution in the whole entire planet Earth... and it remains significant," Roque said.

 

The 1986 EDSA revolution overthrew Ferdinand Marcos after 20 years in power.

 

Uson ran a poll on her Facebook page asking her followers whether the 1986 People Power revolution is a product of "fake news" — a term often used for propaganda and misniformation made to look like legitimate news articles.

 

Of 61,800 votes on the poll, 84 percent said they believe it was a product of fake news.

Palace 'does not tolerate fake news'

 

Last week, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar urged the more than 1,000 information officers present at the National Information Convention to combat the spread of fake news.

 

Uson has been under fire in the past for allegedly spreading fake news through her Facebook page, which has more than 5 million followers. She has maintained that she is not a purveyor of disinformation and fake news, adding that her social media gaffes are her opinions as a "blogger" and not as a government official.

 

The spread of fake news has been widely seen by experts as a major global threat with its reported ability to manipulate elections and imperil democracies. Critics have also expressed fear that the phenomenon can lead to historical revisionism, as in a renewed nostalgia for the Marcos regime, which some now call the best years for the Philippines.

 

A government board is in the process of paying reparations for human rights violations under Marcos. The reparations will be partly funded by P10 billion in Marcos ill-gotten wealth transferred to the Philippine government by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court in 1997. 

 

The Senate has held two hearings in aid of legislation on fake news, however, Sen. Grace Poe said that Congress "cannot legislate thought control."