Press Release
August 16, 2019

De Lima denounces unrelenting campaign to discredit her via fake news

Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has denounced the unrelenting campaign by some political manipulators to discredit her and damage her good name by weaving a web of lies about her and spreading online fake news directed to her.

De Lima, the staunchest critic of the administration's ruthless war on drugs, said the peddlers of fake news have not stopped in spreading misleading videos and reports against her because of her strong stance against the crooked policies of the government.

"Nabalitaan ko na isang manufactured video o spliced version ng ating privilege speech tungkol sa extrajudicial killings noong Agosto 2016 ang kumakalat online upang sirain ang aking imahe at dumihan ang pagiisip ng bawat Pilipino," she said.

"Pinanood ng mga staff ko yung video na yan. Sabi nila, halatang edited ang video na ginawa. Patuloy itong ipinakakalat ng bayarang trolls para linlangin ang mga Pilipino at siraan ang mga personalidad katulad ko na tutol sa baluktot na polisiya ng gobyerno," she added.

The spliced version of De Lima's privilege speech at the Senate about extrajudicial killings on Aug. 2, 2016 was first posted by Pinoy Republic on Facebook last Aug. 8, 2016 with a misleading and false caption that partly read: "Umamin na ang De Lima na isa siyang protector ng droga."

The fake video, which has not been taken down by Facebook yet, has been gaining traction and popularity anew after mostly pro-administration pages and personalities recently shared and reposted it online.

The spliced video implies, among others, that De Lima supposedly admitted to being a protector of Bilibid drug lords even though she mentioned in her original speech that "I was the only Justice Secretary since the 1986 EDSA Revolution who dared to eradicate the dominion of the drug lords inside Bilibid."

The video also falsely implied that she already relinquished her post as a senator when she actually said otherwise in her speech, where she clearly stated that "I will not surrender my mandate as a Senator of the Republic to these unelected and unaccountable personalities."

De Lima, a former justice secretary, reminded the Filipino public, especially social media users, to make it a habit to always verify the legitimacy of reports and clips posted across the Internet before believing them, let alone joining in sharing unverified information online.

"Ugaliin natin ang maging mapagmatyag sa panlilinlang sa social media at huwag basta-basta paniwalaan o ikalat ang anumang impormasyon na kahina-hinala at halatang gawa-gawa lamang," she said.

"Higit sa lahat, Magtulungan tayo upang ireport ang mga pekeng balita sa social media para hindi na mas dumami pa ang malokong tao at matigil na ang ganitong uri ng mapanlinlang na operasyon," she added.

De Lima, who remains detained over bizarre drug trade charges based on manufactured evidence and perjured testimonies of convicted felons, has been systematically and continually victimized by fake news peddlers online.

Amid the malicious manipulation by some sinister quarters, De Lima has not allowed the string of fake news against her to stop her from fulfilling her mandate as a working senator, saying, "patuloy tayong magtatrabaho at magsusulong ng makabuluhang batas para sa Pilipino sa gitna ng patuloy na panggigipit sa atin."

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