Flip-flop

Cong Corrales

AS I am writing this column, I am also preparing my notes for my guesting at ABS-CBN Northern Mindanao Regional News Group’s “Pamahaw Espesyal” today. I was asked to share some tips on how to spot fake news on social media. So, a short shoutout is in order: Thank you for bringing my pet peeve on social media platforms to a wider audience, ABS-CBN RNG.

Speaking of pet peeves, I have a new one–well, a relatively new one–on government functionaries who flip-flop on their pronouncements.

The justice secretary did this not too long ago. He was selling the “destabilization” angle on the ongoing Marawi crisis concocted in his wig glue-addled head. He even showed a photo of the alleged meeting of the “yellows” and affluent Maranao clan patriarchs.

One, nobody asked him. He presented the destabilization plot in a press conference and he had the audacity to accuse news media outfits of misquoting him. Of course, now we know the photo was fake. I say fake because the supposed photo that proved the meeting took place happened nowhere near Marawi or even the same timeline. His supposed “exposé” was as real as that dead animal he has been passing off as hair.

Busted!

Then last week, another government functionary singled out Rappler for dishing out the “wrong numbers of Marawi evacuees who died of healthelated causes.”

The number health secretary Paulyn Ubial gave to reporters in a forum, by the way, was 59. This number was carried not only in the report of Rappler. The Manila Times, Philippine Daily Inquirer, and even the governmentun Philippine News Agency used the same number in their reports.

The pathetic PNA, of course, took down their report on it and then uploaded an entirely different story saying Ubial denied saying that there were a total of 59 deaths recorded in the evacuation centers in Iligan City.

Rappler said they asked for a written clarification from Ubial so they could give the correct figure but no statement was sent.

This is where malice, I think, comes in. Ubial and people associated with the health department sent text messages to different media outfits and singled out Rappler.

So, what was Ubial thinking here? These news media outfits met after the forum and agreed to use a random number in their reports? Yeah, right. That’s really likely than Ubial making a mistake and spouted a wrong figure in the forum.

Busted!

Before, when I was a staff reporter for another daily newspaper, a similar incident happened to me. A government functionary flip-flopped on me. I remember feeling so scared when I received an e-mail from the Department of Justice demanding that I retract my news article where I supposedly misquoted State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon.

But then, I remember recording that particular interview. What I did was I replied to DOJ that asked them in return to point out the inconsistency or inaccuracy in my report and attached the unedited and published versions of the story and the audio clip of my interview of him. To cut the long story short, I didn’t receive any reply from them.

So, the lesson here my dear colleagues, especially the new ones, is always keep your notes and recordings. We should not let these people bully us around by blaming us for their foot-in-mouth incidents.