Army battles ‘fake news’ with truth

Posted to the Mindanao Examiner (Sep 6, 2019): Army battles ‘fake news’ with truth

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The Duterte government has stepped up efforts to fight black propaganda and fake news being peddled by communist insurgents who have resorted to spreading false information and lies and deceit following the steady flow of surrenderees to main stream society.

The Regional Task Force To End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF-ELCAC) also said it will fight black propaganda by swamping fake news with the truth, instead of attacking the story.
Brigadier General Edgardo de Leon, commander of the 403rd Infantry Brigade, said the government will counter black propaganda by the New People’s Army and the Communist Party of the Philippines and its fronts through constant information dissemination and fighting disinformation. Such a strategy, he said, will allow the public to have access to more context that will enable themselves to identify fake news.

“To counter communist propaganda, we do not have to always demonize them. We just have to tell the truth and focus the battle on fighting disinformation,” De Leon said.

“We in the government do not have a penchant for lifting our own chair, for boasting about the good things that we have done. But our silence has been taken advantage of by other interest groups that use it as an opportunity to distort the picture, malign our image, and portray us negatively to the people,” he added.

De Leon said the deceptive communications strategies of the communists have long existed to entice the masses to join them such as marginalized farmers, women, and the youth, in exchange for empty promises. “Matagal na pong inumpisahan ni Joma (Jose Maria) Sison (founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines) ‘yung whole-of-nation revolution,” he said, adding that the Duterte administration has likewise embarked on a whole-of-government approach in fighting communist terrorists through the RTF-ELCAC. (With a report from Mindanao Examiner)

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