MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo on Thursday said she would take legal action against peddlers of fake news following recent social media posts claiming that she and her team had distributed spoiled food at a hospital in Quezon City.
Robredo earlier denied distributing spoiled food at a hospital in Quezon City. She also belied claims that her spokesperson Barry Gutierrez “rushed” to the said hospital and asked its staff to keep quiet about the incident.
While she advocated the decriminalization of libel and cyber libel, Robredo said it was time to make people accountable for peddling wrong information.
“We have taken steps already. We are making sure we will make these people accountable. In the past, I have not taken steps kasi ako, honestly, I was always for decriminalization of libel and for that matter cyber libel,” Robredo said in an interview over ANC.
“Pero tingin ko, enough is enough. We will make sure we will hold these people accountable. We will be seeking formal investigation and I have already assigned a team to gather all the evidence,” she added.
What is tough about this, Robredo said, was that “trolls” were supposedly behind the fake news and it creates a “hostile” online environment.
“Pag fake news kasi, mahirap. Kasi most of the time, hindi mga totoong tao, most of the time mga trolls…Nagagamit ang technology para i-mask yung identity,” she lamented.
(Dealing with fake news is hard. Most of the time, they are not real people, they are trolls. Technology is being used to mask their identity.)
“Hindi lang ito against sa akin. Against ito sa society as a whole because they’re making iyong online space a hostile environment,” she went on.
(This is not only against me, this is against the society as a whole because they’re making iyong online space a hostile environment.)
The Department of Justice earlier said the National Bureau of Investigation will help in tracing the false information on social media involving Robredo.