PDEA debunks watchlist docs on Marcos

MANILA, Philippines — The documents purportedly showing that President Marcos was on the watchlist of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency are fake, the PDEA announced yesterday.

According to PDEA, the documents – both dated March 11, 2012 – circulating on social media platforms are bogus.

One document is a pre-operation report, which listed Marcos and some unidentified male and female cohorts as targets of a drug sting. The other is an authority to operate for a drug target in Makati.

“PDEA ran a check through its Plans and Operations Reports Management Information System or PORMIS and found that no such operation was logged on that date,” the agency said in a statement.

The PDEA said a critical feature of PORMIS is that one could not insert or tamper with recorded operations, adding all pre-operation documents are serialized in the database.

“This ensures the system’s integrity and negates any doubt on the data the system contains,” the PDEA said.

The documents were posted by vlogger Maharlika on her Boldyakan Facebook page on Monday night, which generated 2,400 reactions and 629 comments.

The post was shared 1,100 times as of yesterday afternoon.

Maharlika used to be a Marcos supporter, but has since been critical of the President.

She remains supportive of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

In an age where artificial intelligence can generate realistic fake videos, spurious documents and “fantastic” claims at having insider information, the PDEA cautioned the public to be more careful about social media posts propagating what it described as fake news.