Poe tells Leah Navarro to speak up about ‘Silent No More’

Sen. Grace Poe INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Instead of attacking her on social media, Senator Grace Poe wants a known supporter of former President Benigno Aquino III to just appear and “speak up” at a Senate hearing.

While presiding over the hearing of the Senate committee on public order and mass media on Wednesday, Poe brought up a comment against her by Leah Navarro, who has been tagged as one of the people behind the “Silent No More PH” blog.

“Actually habang nagsasalita ka, yung isang sinasabing miyembro ng grupo ng ‘Silent No More,’ Leah Navarro, was already commenting and saying that I’m treating you guys with kid gloves and with deference,” the senator said.

“Let me make it clear that I accord respect to every single resource person in my hearing. I don’t choose whether you’re against me or for me or for my views. And the reason why I’m giving you this chance is because this hearing is not for me. This hearing is for the people and supposedly purveyors of fake news are given the chance to speak, well, because we’re investigating fake news. So we will now judge whether it’s true that they’re fake news or not.”

“So I’d like her to come here to the next hearing and to speak up. She was a member of my board and she said a lot of things about me that are untrue but I never called her out on it on social media but perhaps now she can say it,” Poe added, still referring to Navarro.

Poe was the former head of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) before she was elected in the Senate in 2013.

While conducting the hearing, Navarro tweeted: “Grace Poe sounds like is squarely on the side of fake news purveyors like Thinking Pinoy, Uson and Sasot.”

“This is my personal opinion, my take. If feelings were hurt, then join our ranks, victims of accusations, insults by fake news creators,” Navarro said in another tweet, apparently reacting to Poe’s remarks.

Navarro denied that she was in anyway connected with the “Silent No More PH” blog. /jpv

READ: ‘Silent No More’ operators to be exposed at Senate hearing – Poe