Robredo to no longer keep mum on 'false accusations' against her
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo will no longer keep mum when lies and false accusations are spun against her.
In an interview with GMA’s "Unang Hirit" early Monday, Robredo said she told her staff some time last year that she will call out all the lies she sees.
“For three years, I kept mum because I feel I was just giving importance to it, it would be better to not pay attention. But it seemed wrong because if we keep silent, if we don’t pay attention to it, people think it’s true,” she explained in a mix of English and Filipino.
She shared that she started correcting the false accusations on Facebook and they are users who react and report the post containing fake news.
Last week, Robredo hit back at Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Deputy Executive Director Mocha Uson for spreading wrong information amid the unrest of Taal Volcano which sent thousands fleeing their homes for safety.
Uson's Facebook page Mocha Uson Blog posted a screenshot of a Facebook user commenting that the vice president only donated five pieces of pandesal and a bottle of water to the evacuees.
The OWWA official's Facebook page also claimed that Robredo prioritized having photo ops rather han helping the victims.
In reply, Robredo posted on her personal Facebook account: "While our people are suffering from an unfortunate tragedy, this bearer of fake news continues to receive salary out of taxpayers' money. Let's all help put a stop to the proliferation of lies.”
Robredo in the TV interview pointed out that Uson is a government employee whose salary is paid from people’s taxes.
“What’s wrong is she is being paid by the government so I made it a point to really call her out, but for me, my calling out is enough. I don’t want to prolong it because it won’t help,” she added in Filipino.
“It’s enough that people know she lied so that next time, there is a warning that I won’t just let it pass,” the vice president added.
in 2018, Robredo also said she would start addressing lies being told about her after a Manila Times columnist claimed that she and other members of the Liberal Party had met with German members of the European Parliament during a trip to Berlin.
The columnist claimed Robredo and her party mates were trying to convince the European Parliament to pass a resolution calling on the Philippines to end extrajudicial killings in its
drug war."
Robredo called the columnist a "purveyor of fake news" and said she "[n]ever saw or spoke or communicated with a single EU official or representative while I was in Germany."
She added: "I’ve held my peace before, trusting that truth will prevail. We can no longer let lies go unchallenged. So bring it on."
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