Avid Duterte supporter and blogger Rey Joseph Nieto, a.k.a. Thinking Pinoy, issued an erratum over making a graphic attributing a misquoted statement to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
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Nieto made the correction on November 16, hours after Rappler published a report on how Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson shares Nieto’s graphic with the wrong statement from Trudeau. He explained that he based the graphic on a Manila Times article titled “Getting back garbage ‘impossible’ – Trudea” published on November 15.
“ERRATUM: The Manila Times article “Getting back garbage ‘impossible’ – Trudeau” dated 15 Nov 2017, upon which yesterday’s ThinkingPinoy graphic was based, misquoted Canadian PM Justin Trudeau,” Nieto wrote.
He explained that he already took down the erroneous graphic, but that it took time to do so because he was sick and away from his computer.
Nieto did not fail, however, to remind everyone that the container vans containing the trash from Canada are still in Subic, Zambales.
“Note, however, that the fact remains that the 90-or-so container vans’ worth of trash, including used diapers, from Canada are still rotting in Subic, and that the Canadian Government has so far been unable to offer any substantive solutions to address the issue,” he said.
Before ending his post, he even compared the Manila Times to Rappler.
“With that said, I implore the Manila Times to issue an erratum for the misquotation. I know you guys can do it because you are not Rappler,” Nieto added.
Uson shared Nieto’s erroneous graphic, adding her own caption that said: “Meron tayong kilalang ganyan sa Pilipinas. Mahilig din sa photo op lalo na sa bata. Pekeng peke nga yun.”
However, Rappler corrected Nieto and the Manila Times’ misquoted Trudeau statement.
The erroneous statement went like this” “… Theoretically, it is impossible to get [the garbage] back… Even if it originally came from Canada…”
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Nieto posted this caption of the graphic: “After the PR blitz, this is what we get from Canadian PM Justin Trudeau. At the end of the day, I’d rather have a crass and ‘unclassy’ president who get things done. ‘Yung pictures ng pogi? Makakalimutan rin ‘yan. Pero yung basurang nabubulok sa mga ports natin? Hindi.”
It turned out that Nietos’ graphic was based on a certain part of the Manila Times article that said: “We have legal barriers and restrictions that prevented us from being able to get back. Those regulations and those impediments have not been addressed. So, theoretically it is impossible to get it back.”
Rappler noted how both Nieto and Uson were present at the ASEAN Summit, but did not bother to check and verify the quote, which would have been easily doable by checking video clips of Trudeau’s press conference.
Here is what Trudeau actually said:
“Even though it originally came from Canada, we had legal barriers and restrictions that prevented us from being able to take it back. Those regulations and those impediments have now been addressed, so it is now theoretically possible to get it back.”
You can watch Trudeau here at 0:50:
Reacting to Rappler’s fact-checking of Trudeau’s statement, Uson asked whether the online news media organization is spreading fake news or taking their revenge against her.
She said that it was her fellow Duterte supporter Nieto who quoted Trudeau’s statement based on The Manila Times, which she pointedly mentioned as a part of mainstream media.
She added, “I only gave my opinion about the picture na buhat buhat ni Trudeau not about the quote.”
Uson also slammed Rappler for calling her out but not Nieto.
“Si RJ at Manila Times ang nag quote pero akong hindi nag quote ang sinita niyo???” she added.
The PCOO assistant secretary also accused Rappler reporter Pia Ranada of being “interested to destroy people.”
“Nevertheless Spox Harry Roque next time na may tanungin ang MPC na ganyan lalo na ang basurang Rappler, Ask for the particular post na sinasabi nila. Meaning tanungin niyo po kung ano ba yung post na yun na sinasabi ni PIA. Upon looking at it malalaman niyo na kaagad na si PIA nangloloko lang sa inyo. Just a piece of advise Spox. Dahil yang katulad ni Pia is not interested sa truth. She is just interested to destroy people,” Uson wrote on Facebook.
She also tried to engage her fellow Diehard Duterte Supporters (DDS), asking them what they thought was Rappler’s motivation to write the fact-checking report mentioning her specifically – they don’t know anything, they wanted attention to increase Rappler’s engagement, they are taking their revenge against her for wanting to reclassify Rappler as blogger, or they wanted to pit her against Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque.
Manila Times has already issued an erratum over their misquoted Trudeau statement and changed the errors in their November 15 article as well. Their headline now says “Getting back garbage ‘theoretically possible’ – Trudeau.”
It also came with this editor’s note: “The quote in the fourth paragraph, attributed to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has been corrected to say that “it is now theoretically possible” to bring the garbage back to Canada. The headline and the story below were revised to accurately reflect the correct quote. We apologize for the error.”
Nieto also issued an erratum before over a meme he posted where he mistakenly identified Senator Franklin Drilon’s wife as Fil-Am billionaire and civic leader Loida Nicolas-Lewis and over a photo he posted showing Vice President Leni Robredo auctioning her portrait in Los Angeles, California because she cannot afford to ship it to the Philippines, a story which turned out to be a fake one.
Sources: ( rappler.com , manilatimes.net )
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