Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III condemned what he described as a coordinated campaign of propaganda and fake news aimed at discrediting him and the leadership of the upper chamber of Congress.
This came after several posts circulated on social media accusing Sotto of allegedly pushing for a one-year extension of the K to 12 program, classifying people as senior citizens at the age of 35, and imposing a 50% tax on content creators.
“Grabe [ang fake news]. Talagang parang mayroong, ano tawag dun, may directed, mayroong propaganda talaga against the Senate, against myself,” Sotto said in an interview on Friday, October 10.
He noted that the pattern of disinformation appeared to follow a regular schedule: “Napansin namin mula September 8, pagdating na mga Thursday, Friday, Saturday, may mga fake news against me, against Sen. (Panfilo) Lacson, against Sen. (Juan Miguel) Zubiri. Tapos pagdating na Lunes, meron daw coup. Every weekend,” he explained.
“That is the best word. I think there is a concerted effort by some quarters. I don’t know who. We’ll try to find out,” Sotto added.
The Senate President believes that these attacks stem from critics’ inability to find legitimate issues against them: “Since they have nothing real to throw at us, they resort to spreading lies,” he said.