MALACAÑANG on Saturday, August 3, took a jab at American-based newspaper New York Times (NYT) for basing its report on the killings of land defenders in the Philippines to “false facts.”
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the Palace already expected the NYT to write an editorial piece that contains “false information and untruthful narratives” on the Philippines’s situation under the watch of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“The NYT has the reckless habit of relying mainly on false facts regarding this Administration’s campaign against illegal drugs and the causes of murders occurring in the land areas of the country, peddled by the communist rebels and their supporting left-leaning organizations, as well as the political opposition,” Panelo said in a statement.
“The American publication has not exerted the research required of responsive journalism. Neither did it conduct an in-depth independent study on such a delicate subject-matter,” he added.
Panelo is reacting to an NYT’s August 1 editorial titled “In the Fight to Save the Planet, Its Defenders Are Being Killed.”
The NYT’s editorial board noted in its report that in 2018, around 164 defenders of the land and environment were killed, “with the Philippines of the brutal President Rodrigo Duterte taking over from Brazil as the deadliest place to resist rapacious developers and governments.”
Panelo mocked the editorial piece, which he said “heavily relied” on the annual report of Britain-based human rights group Global Witness.
“Global Witness made it appear that it is the government which is to blame for the situation while failing or omitting to factor the local communist movement and armed conflicts as critical components thereof,” he said.
“It has not considered the fact that many of our local authorities, security forces, and even tribal leaders died protecting land rights against communist insurgents who want to control these areas. Necessarily, the President had to undertake measures to maintain peace and order in the affected localities,” the Palace official added.
Panelo likewise disputed the claim of the NYT’s editorial board that Duterte is brutal.
Contrary to the report, Panelo said Duterte performs his duty in accordance with the Philippine laws.
“NYT describes PRRD as brutal. The President is not brutal. He does not allow any law enforcer to use savage methods in enforcing the law,” he said.
“Anyone who goes against police protocols in effecting arrest and complying with court orders are prosecuted administratively and criminally. The President is very strict in enforcing the law. No friendship, alliances or blood relationship temper nor impede this enforcement. No one is spared from the harsh application of the law,” he added.
Panelo also stressed that in the Duterte presidency differs from its predecessor as it considers following the law as “not an option but requires absolute obedience to it.”
He also emphasized that under the President’s watch, “either one obeys the law or he disobeys and he suffers the consequence of the disobedience.”
“The governance of the President is based on his constitutional duty to serve and protect the Filipino people. No force on earth nor the baseless condemnation from the outside world will chain or halt this President from performing the constitutional command of protecting the nation and preserving the Republic,” Panelo said.
“He will continue to do it with passion, dedication, integrity, courage and zeal against the enemies of the state, as well as the purveyors of falsities, and those who dare assault the country’s sovereignty, regardless of the risk and cost to his life, liberty, honor and to his presidency,” he added. (SunStar Philippines)