THE camp of former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has advised Vice President Maria Leonor "Leni" Robredo to shut her mouth and respect members of the press.
This, after Robredo on May 3 called out a reporter from the Philippine Star for spreading alleged fake news regarding the ongoing ballot recount by the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, in the electoral protest filed against her by Marcos.
The reporter's tweet, which said that Robredo's votes have been reduced by 21,000 prompted the Vice President to also tweet: "This is fake news. Propaganda meant to condition the minds of the public. Two weeks ago, the PR stunt was we already lost 5,000 votes. Both are fake."
In another post, she said that the "fake news" also came out in Manila Bulletin, Standard, Tribune, PTV 4 and added "we already know from which camp this comes from."
"Not satisfied in casting aspersions meant to undermine the integrity of the Tribunal and of the ongoing manual recount, Robredo is at it again, this time attacking and discrediting members of the press and dragging Senator Marcos in her desperate attempt to dilute all negative news affecting her in the election protest," said Vic Rodriguez, Marcos' spokesperson.
"At this moment, it would be best if she just follow our lead in observing silence, shut her mouth for lack of sensible matter to say and accord utmost respect to members of the media and the Tribunal's resolution on sub judice," he added.
The Supreme Court recently asked both Robredo and Marcos to explain why they should not be cited in contempt for not observing the sub judice rule as they keep sharing information on the ongoing recount.
The sub judice rule prohibits parties to the case from disclosing any information about the ongoing judicial proceedings to not influence the court, obstruct the administration of justice or preempt the issue.
Since the petition against Robredo has been filed in 2016 both camps have held various media conferences and issued statements informing the people as to the development of the electoral protest. (SunStar Philippines)