Political trolls still selling fake news

Just when Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu arrived and had a conference with our political, medical leaders, we got this piece of news that Cebu City recorded 30 cases, the lowest number since it reverted to ECQ mid-June. As of yesterday, it has a total of 4,479 cases but only 2,213 are active cases. At least 2,177 cases have also been reported as recovered from the disease, 31 of which were recorded. So let us hope and pray that this will be a downward slide to last by the end of the month so we can return to GCQ.

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Meanwhile, I fully agree that you should never trust forwarded messages especially come from the social media for you just don’t know the purpose of these forwarded messages unless you personally know who issued the message. Just to give you an example, there was an article with a photo of the meeting yesterday in SEDA Hotel at the Ayala Business Park with Inter-Agency Task Force of Emerging Infectious Diseases  (IATF-EID) with Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, Defense Sec. Lorenzana, Department of Health (DOH) Sec. Francisco Duque, peace adviser Carlito Galvez and clearly the article showed an overjoyed sender who said that this meeting did not have a Gov. Gwen F. Garcia, nor Cebu City Mayor Edgardo C. Labella and no OPAV Sec. Michael Dino.

However, the truth surfaced a few hours later that the photo of that meeting without the Cebu local government unit officials (LGUs) was taken very much earlier before the arrival of the local officials. As the photos reveal, Sec. Michael Dino and five of his fellow secretaries: Lorenzana, Cimatu, Duque, Galvez and Año. And Governor Gwen, Mayors Labella, and Mayor Sam Sam Gullas were all present.

Clearly, whoever presented that earlier photo did not want our local government officials to be present in that meeting. Unfortunately, for these negative minded people who presented the earlier photo, they must have been disappointed that our local officials were invited after all. But these people did not remove the offending photographs this is why you should never forward such misleading posts as they are fake news!

Mind you, the presence of Sec. Cimatu and other national officials encouraged a huge spin in the Social Media Network as a proof that not only does the national government loves Cebu, it is also an indication that the local leadership has failed, despite its well-meaning efforts. Looking at the Social Media Networks, clearly this is done by the trolls of former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña. That he has sought the resignation of Dino, who was forced to respond to that request. Here is the letter of Sec. Michael Dino.

"Not plenty of people would want me to resign. Only Tomas Osmeña people want me to resign. That is the truth. As long as I have the trust and confidence of the president, I will keep on working. That is the reason why I requested him for support, para matabangan ang Cebu. That is the reason why naa, no less than lima ni ka secretaries naa diri karon, nga mutabang nato because the President wants Cebuanos, wants us to survive. Okay? That's the reason why they are supporting us.

Kanang mga storya-storya nga, unsa man nang mga binuang diha, natubag na na nako, very clear. Loud and clear. If they do not understand, kay tungod kay bogo silang tanan... dili sila kasabot... og dili sila kasabot, ug tawo nga kasabot nga nagpa-wawa kasabot, wa na koy mabuhat ana, diba?

No matter how much they complain, no matter how much they see things, as long as it's not true and the president.... Please do not, you know, please, hangyo lang ko: Don’t think nga ang presidente bogo. The President is not stupid. The President is very smart.

Og naa gani magbinuang diri's Cebu, ug naa tay gibuhat, wa na, first month pa lang, tua na ko's Malacañang, gipatawag na ko. You cannot fool the president. He has a lot of intelligence officers here. The numbers will not lie, so check. Remember, ang trababo sa OPAV is not just COVID. Ang trabaho sa OPAV, the entire Visayas, di lang COVID. We take care of, even the Department of Labor. Karon sa MEPZA, nag-problema na kay mang lay-off na og mga tawo. Who's talking to them? Who is meeting with them? Meeting with the MCIAA, meeting with the governor, meeting with the Aboitiz, and meeting with the locators. Who?Kinsa ang focal person? Mike Dino. My office.I’m sorry, not Mike Dino but my office. Daghang salamat."

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