Peter Tiu Laviña, one of President Rodrigo Duterte’s men laughed off his critics’ attacks against him, considering how Duterte has become endeared to others and gained more followers.
He even edited his posts, probably after some people commented on how the article he shared came from a satirical blog, The T1mes.
His current Facebook post is the third version of his first post on Tuesday, September 27, when he seemed to mock those who would react angrily to his post.
But these are his first two posts, which made it seem like he truly believed the article, before he was alerted to the satire nature of the article.
This is among the first comments to Laviña’s post, which he replied to with the “excuse” (palusot?) that “the world needs laughter,” and even asking the commenter not to be “KJ.” And that commenter has a point – some people might not take the satire article as a joke, but as an article bearing real news.
And Laviña’s fake post has gone viral, having been shared over 2,300 times. Those who shared it definitely took the article as a genuine one, just like these two.
Another commenter also brought up how this is not the first time Laviña has shared misleading article. Earlier, Laviña was slammed for exploiting the photo of a Brazilian girl’s rape and murder in 2014 by sharing it on Facebook and making it seem like it happened in the Philippines to justify Duterte’s war on drugs.
Someone is also worried about how gullible people are and how the spread of the satirical article might be taken against Duterte’s supporters.
And he was right. Some of the comments and the sharers of the satirical article that Laviña started took the article seriously.
Someone also pointed out that if someone of Laviña’s position as one of Duterte’s presidential advisers could not tell a satire from a serious article, “shouldn’t you be worried about the kind of advice he gives?”
The same commenter also posted screenshots of tweets about the kinds of leadership Tanzania President John Magufuli and Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe have.
The T1mes is a satirical blog. Anything that it publishes are made-up, fake articles.
Instead of stopping Duterte’s supporters from spreading fake articles, Laviña seems to be encouraging this behavior by exhibiting the same behavior. No wonder trolls were abound during the campaign.
Source: (rappler.com)
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