In Part 5 of our Investigative Expose, we reveal how a misinformation campaign on the penalties for not wearing a face mask in Quezon City tried to sow discord and fake protest in the City.
To recall, in Parts 1-4 of the investigative expose, we uncovered a massive misinformation campaign in QC led by former mayor Herbert “Bistek” Bautista and Mike Defensor in a bid to regain power in the city. They have employed different tactics to spread FAKE NEWS, from the thousands of paid troll accounts to infiltrating DDS communities. They have been relentlessly attacking the LGU and the current Mayor Joy Belmonte, desperate to escape punishment for their crimes.
I. Real News VS Fake News
Real News
- April 7, 2020
Executive Order No. 25 was released to support the national policy to make the wearing of masks in public spaces mandatory. DILG Sec. Año urged LGUs to create an ordinance regarding this.
- April 14, 2020
Quezon City introduced an ordinance (Ordinance No. SP-2908, S-2020) to make the wearing of face masks in QC mandatory. Section 4 as per the above clearly states that there will be an increasing fine for each offense. P1, 000 for the first offense, P3, 000 for the second, & P5, 000 for the third.
FAKE NEWS
- May 29, 2020 – Fake News Articles by Tabloids
BLOGS/PERSONAL PAGES
FB GROUPS
The ordinance was enacted to implement the mandatory wearing of face masks, and it specifies the penalties for non-compliance.
On the 29th of May, and more than a month later, Abante and Remate published articles specifying that the penalty for non-wearing of mask in QC is P50, 000 in fine and 6 months imprisonment. There is no other reason, unless this is a sign of the clear incompetence of Abante and Remate, than the real purpose of releasing this FAKE NEWS is to sow discord and protest in Quezon City.
They further instigated discord by getting their army of FAKE SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS to try and spread the FAKE NEWS even further on social media. This is demonstrated by the articles created by various blogs, & sharing of the articles to different accounts and QC groups. Some of these blogs include:
- Rolando B. Tolentino (May 31, 2020)
- Mohammad Maruhomsalic Dipatuan Jr. (June 1, 2020)
- Ang Bagong Bantay Hukom (June 2, 2020)
It is an alarming fact that this isn’t the first instance Bautista and Defensor’s camp used tabloids to publish FAKE NEWS. And this is a continuing pattern in their FAKE NEWS campaign.
II. Same Old Tactic, Different Narrative
These FAKE NEWS articles published by clickbait-loving tabloids follow the same pattern as the previous misinformation campaigns run by the opposition.
It should be noted that Abante’s publisher, Vic Rodriguez, is the brother of Edwin Dayrit Rodriguez. Dayrit is the PDP-Laban QC Secretary-General, a close ally of Bautista and Defensor, and the man behind Bingbong Crisologo’s failed campaign in the 2019 Elections.
The laws created by the local and national governments are made to protect its citizens, and not to exploit the poor and the disadvantaged.
Instead of lifting people by equipping them with real information, the opposition continues to feed the people lies and misinformation. We are still in the middle of a pandemic and yet the trapolitikos continuing with their destabilization effort to try and manipulate people all in the name of greed.