Marcos denies Teodoro resignation rumors: ‘Fake, fake, fake news’
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. dismissed rumors of Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro's resignation from his post.
While distributing aid to fisherfolk in Navotas City affected by the oil spill in Bataan, Marcos told reporters that he laughed at the rumor when he first heard it.
“Fake, fake, fake, fake, fake, fake news ‘yan,” (That's fake, fake, fake, fake fake news) Marcos said in an ambush interview.
“Mga desperado nag-iimbento ng istorya para gumawa ng gulo. Wala naman silang naibibigay, wala silang natutulong,” Marcos saud further.
(It is desperate people that invent stories like that to create confusion. They do not even give anything, they help no one.)
The president said that it was the worst kind of fake news that people could spread. He urged the public to exercise caution against such disinformation.
Marcos said he was initially advised not to ignore such fake news but he said it was important for people to know.
“Itong ganitong klaseng mga tsismis, mga marites, kinakalat lang nila ito para manggulo. ‘Wag po kayong magpadala sa mga ganyan,” Marcos said.
(These kinds of gossip, hearsay, are being spread to create disorder. Do not let yourselves be carried away with it.)
In a separate statement, Presidential Communications Office Secretary Cesar Chavez said that Teodoro still has Marcos’ full trust.
Chavez called the rumors “pathetic attempts to sow disunity in an organization united in protecting our people and defending our territory.”
Teodoro holds a crucial role right now in the midst of China’s maritime expansion in Philippine seas. One of the attached agencies of the Department of National Defense is the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Alongside the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), the AFP has been on the frontline when it comes to protecting Philippine territories.
Multiple confrontations between Chinese forces and the AFP have heightened tensions in the West Philippine Sea, with Beijing falsely laying claim to most of the sea.
China has been known to use trolls to spread fake news and sow disinformation in the Philippines to reiterate its narrative.
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