Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have allegedly commended President Rodrigo Duterte for destroying terrorist Isnilon Hapilon, at least according to a certain blog.
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The problem is that the blog Okd2.com is known more for its fake and satirical articles, hence our doubts. When we clicked on the link to the article, it was, as with many of its recently published articles, tagged as “humor & satire.”
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To prove that it was indeed satire, we checked the things that were deliberately written as false claims in the story. We found this alleged statement from Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to be a fake one:
“I ask my fellow ASEAN leaders to thank our southern friend for his effort in keeping us all safe. The destruction of Isis is what keeps us mutually united. I would like to thank President Duterte for his crucial decisions that led to success.”
Only Okd2 carried the remarks, although it was true that Hapilon died on October 16 after five months of fighting in Marawi City.
But the other parts of the story were copied off a South China Morning Post report, “Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte hits all the right notes on Hong Kong visit,” published on May 13, 2017.
This is the report where Duterte was quoted saying, “Just give me three to four years [to get things done]… Just give me time to stop corruption.”
The ASEAN leaders also vowed to fight illegal drugs and terrorism, as well as promote human rights and fundamental freedoms, among others.
“We will comprehensively address cross-sectoral concerns, including nontraditional security issues and transnational challenges, such as illicit drug trafficking, trafficking-in-persons, terrorism and violent extremism,” read the ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration.
“We will continue to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms, equitable access to opportunities and poverty eradication,” it stated.
One thing for sure, Okd2 has become a master of mixing the lies with the truths so it would be even harder for the readers to spot those lies, especially for those who won’t even bother reading the entire article or even opening the link, which could have alerted them to the “satire” tag. With proper research and vigilance, though, we can stop ourselves from falling for their trap.
Some world leaders have arrived in the Philippines for the ASEAN Summit that will be held on November 12 to 14.
Sources: ( philstar.com , rappler.com , news.abs-cbn.com )
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