SENATOR ANTONIO “Sonny” Trillanes IV of the Nacionalista Party led an open dialogue on the “fake news” phenomena, dishonest journalism, and their effects on everyday Filipino citizens. The event took place at Leong Hall on November 21.

Trillanes discussed the proliferation of fake news over the course of last year, particularly during the campaign period for the 2016 national elections. The senator then discussed its effects on the outcome of the previous elections, his belief in its “continued use” by the Duterte administration, and how Filipino citizens are affected by uncritical news consumption.

Trillanes gave a personal example of fake news being used against him to illustrate his points on the negative effects of fake news. Last September, Trillanes was accused by Duterte of accumulating funds in offshore bank accounts for the purpose of “destabilizing the administration.”

Trillanes was cleared of these allegations after travelling to Singapore and disproving the existence of the offshore accounts with witnesses from members of the media.

Duterte later admitted to inventing the alleged account of Trillanes. The senator cited a fake news article published by the “Davao Breaking News” website as the source of the offshore account allegations.     

Objective of fake news

According to Trillanes, the current problems of the country in dealing with fake news can be traced back to several articles published in 2016 based on “no such scientific quantitative or qualitative data.”

“It began with the article on Davao City [being proclaimed] as the fourth safest city in the world. Slowly, it became viral and soon enough, Davao was touted as the safest city in the world [by later articles]. Thus, the era of fake news had quietly begun,” said Trillanes.

The cited article’s data was based on a poll conducted by Numbeo.com. The senator then stated that “after the initial results of the poll were published and cited by the article, Duterte supporters came in and flooded the poll with votes for Davao City.”

Trillanes said, “Less than 450 people originally participated in [the poll]. That original article was based on no scientific quantitative or qualitative data. In fact, based on data from the Philippine National Police, it can be said that Davao is the most dangerous city in the Philippines based on both rape and murder per capita.”

Inconsistent with the senator’s statement, however, a VERA Files article found Davao City being the most dangerous for only murder among fifteen Philippine cities used in a study. Additionally, rape and murder incidents had only risen while index crimes declined during the years 2013 to 2016, Duterte’s last term as mayor.

According to the senator, the Numbeo article was used by Duterte supporters during his campaign to defend Duterte whenever he would say “something morally twisted or politically disastrous.” Trillanes directly referenced the cusses against Pope Francis and the rape comments Duterte made during his campaigning period.

The projection of popular support for the current administration’s policies, the “proactive” attack on parties known to oppose the government, and the diversion of attention away from the current administration’s “incompetence and bad governance” were cited by Trillanes as the main objectives of the spread of fake news since last year.

Trillanes ended his presentation saying, “The best weapon against [fake news] and propaganda is the truth. We should endeavor to know [the truth], and push back by calling out those who share fake news.”

‘Duterte will answer for his crimes’

During the open forum portion of the event, one audience member questioned the senator on the “indifference of the Filipinos to extrajudicial killings (EJKs)” in the past year.

Trillanes replied, saying, “I believe it is due to several factors, including the popularity of Duterte after his victorious campaign. This allowed [the Filipinos] to look beyond the EJKs that were happening in the first few months. Another factor would be the fear sowed by the administration. The man on the street was afraid of becoming involved.”

Another question during the forum was a concern raised by a student regarding the apparent effort of the government to “stomp out the opposition.”

Trillanes stated that he believes this to be fact, and that “Duterte wants to form a sort of kingdom out of the country, just like how he formed Davao City while he was mayor.”

The senator cited the campaign of President Duterte as an example of how he “gains favor through propaganda,” and stated that “in an ideal situation, the public should have paid attention to the red flags that were [his comments on the Pope and the murdered Australian missionary].”

The senator reaffirmed the need to combat fake news in all its forms. Trillanes said, “Fake news has no objective but to serve some diabolical purpose and deceive the public. We should decide as a people that fake news is wrong, and should not be tolerated.”

The senator also called for action among the youth. “As the most technologically experienced generation, you must continue to fight the way you know how and combat fake news on social media platforms. Eventually, we will win. As sure as the daylight tomorrow, Duterte will answer for his crimes.”