An Inquirer.net quote card has been altered to attribute a fabricated anti-poor statement to former presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo.
The fake quote began appearing April 14 and has gone viral. It has been posted in more than 30 Facebook public groups and pages.
This is the second time in a week that netizens twisted the quote in Inquirer.net’s April 8 card on Panelo.
The latest had Panelo saying:
Stop the criticism, magtiis kayo, mahirap kayo, wala kayong ipon, di niyo pinaghandaan ang emergency, that's your fault. Napakasuwerte ninyo, the government is doing all its best to help you (Stop the criticism, you have to endure this, you are poor, you have no savings, you did not prepare for the emergency, that's your fault. You are so lucky, the government is doing all its best to help you).
Panelo was supposed to have said this when he urged the public to not just criticize but to suggest how government can respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Inquirer.net excerpted the following sentences from Panelo’s April 8 virtual presser for its quote card:
Sana at this time of our crisis, yun pong mga pagpuna natin sa pamahalaan e wag na muna tayong maging masyadong mainit doon. Kumbaga, nakaraan na yon at ginagawan na ng paraan.
Siguro mas maganda magbigay po tayo ng mungkahi na lang. Yung nakita natin na hindi maganda na hindi nagawa, ipasa po kaagad natin
(Hopefully at this time of our crisis, Let’s not harp on criticisms of the government. That’s all in the past and we’ve addressed them.
Perhaps it’s better to give suggestions. If you see something that’s not good, that’s not being done, tell us right away).
A day after Inquirer.et published the quote card, it warned the public about a manipulated quote card which, like the latest one, contained anti-poor statements purportedly from Panelo.
Panelo stepped down as President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesperson April 13 and was replaced by Harry Roque, presidential spokesperson until he resigned in October 2018. Panelo retains his position as presidential legal counsel.
The latest quote card has generated nearly 41,000 interactions, according to data from social media monitoring tool Crowdtangle.
The biggest sharers were Facebook public groups SWERTRES HEARING - SMALL TOWN LOTTERY - LOTTO RESULTS (1,054,729 followers), Filipino Post (144,775), Taga Cavite City ka kapag...( 113,049) and Taga Binan Laguna ako (101,368), and Facebook page Rudy Baldwin (318,831).
References
Inquirer.net [inquirerdotnet]. (2020, April 8). Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said that the public should just give suggestions instead of criticizing the government [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/inquirerdotnet/status/1247787194875428865
Inquirer.net [inquirerdotnet]. (2020, April 9). WARNING! The http://INQUIRER.net did not produce the image on the left. We urge the public to be wary and mindful of the content they share. Check out http://inquirer.net/novel-coronavirus-update for the latest news and updates on COVID-19 [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/inquirerdotnet/status/1248113050965528576
Rudy Baldwin. (2020, April 14). He has a point, we are always blamed for the government but during Christmas instead of hiding the bonuses and the gift for emergencies, most blessings are gone…[Facebook status updated]. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/Unofficialpage24/posts/219935539453715
SWERTRES HEARING - SMALL TOWN LOTTERY - LOTTO RESULTS. (2020, April 15). Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/groups/137832710160864/permalink/696418824302247