Was a warrant of arrest issued against Senator Leila de Lima and several others linked to the proliferation of drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison?
Newstrendph published an article with this headline: “WARRANT OF ARREST kay Sen. De Lima at sa iba pa inilabas na mga pulis handa na para arestuhin sila ngayon.”
We checked the article and the information included in it about the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) filing charges against de Lima, Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III, former Bureau of Corrections chief Franklin Bucayu, former NBP Supt. Wilfredo Ely, former PSG aide Joenel Sanchez, de Lima’s former driver/bodyguard Ronnie Dayan, Dayan’s nephew Jose Adrian Dera, and high-profile Bilibid inmate Jaybee Sebastian is true.
It is also true that VACC president Dante Jimenez said that de Lima used her position to put people in positions that made them accomplices to the drug trade in the Bilibid.
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But what isn’t true is that a warrant of arrest was issued against de Lima and the other officials mentioned above. You can verify it yourself and see if you can find news articles about the court issuing a warrant of arrest.
If there was anything remotely relevant to de Lima and talks of warrant of arrest, it would be the House justice committee citing Dayan in contempt and issuing a warrant of arrest against him to compel him to attend the House probe.
All Newstrendph did was insert that single sentence claiming that a warrant of arrest was issued and that de Lima and her cohorts were set to be arrested right away.
The article’s first sentence went on like this:
“Sinampahan nang reklamong paglabag sa Anti Drug Trafficking Law sa Department of Justice si Senator de Lima at pitong iba pa na dawit sa illegal drug trade sa New Bilibid Prison at inilabas na ang warrant of arrest para arestuhin sila ngayon.”
You can search for any news about the arrest of de Lima, as the article claimed, and you won’t find any. This is where the small, subtle lie was inserted before the article laid out the facts that were also reported by mainstream media.
Newstrendph’s article had facts in as far as charges against de Lima and seven other officials is concerned, but in the midst of those facts was a lie about a warrant of arrest being issued and about these people being arrested. And an even bigger problem is that this lie even made it to the headline, which helped the article draw people in with its misleading title!
Sources: (gmanetwork.com, rappler.com, philstar.com)
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