DOJ chief to netizens: Do not spread lockdown rumors

MANILA, Philippines — Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday told netizens not to spread unverified information, especially rumors on a supposed lockdown during the holiday season.

He said the public should instead wait for statements from official sources rather than pass the rumor around.

“That was obviously fake news. I advise netizens to just wait for statements from official sources rather than pass the rumor around,” Guevarra said in a message to reporters.

“The more the rumor circulates, the faster it assumes the illusion of truth,” he added.

Social media posts claiming the return of a stricter lockdown in the country from Dec. 22 until January next year is “fake news,” officials of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) earlier said.

The National Bureau of Investigation will not trace the origin of the said fake news, Guevarra said, as long as the government can “quash all of this false information through the usual communication channels.

“I will reserve the resources of the NBI for more urgent and critical investigations,” the DOJ chief said.

“However, if there are signs that misinformation about the COVID-19 situation are deliberate and coordinated to create public unrest or sabotage the economy, I will immediately deploy the NBI to intervene and find out who are perpetrating this malicious misinformation,” he added.

Guevarra earlier ordered the NBI to investigate online misinformation about COVID-19. [ac]