Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar.

The government is now taking the offensive to counter fake news through a roadshow in Europe where the sentiment against President Rodrigo Duterte has been exceptionally strong, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar said.

We are also bringing the Press Freedom Caravan to Europe to make them understand the case involving Maria Ressa

Andanar added the “Press Freedom Caravan” will be held in Bosnia, Brussels and Switzerland where PCOO officials will explain the current situation of press freedom in the country.

We plan to talk to members of the European media since they have a lot of questions about the Philippines, he said.

The PCOO also recently created the Office of Global Media Affairs (OGMA) which has the main task of providing information to media overseas.

“We are also bringing the Press Freedom Caravan to Europe to make them understand the case involving Maria Ressa. Undersecretary Joel Egco, Assistant Secretary Kris Ablan, Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy will all be there to explain the true nature of the case of Ms.

Ressa and why the Duterte administration does not have any involvement in it,” Andanar said.

Ressa has been charged with cyberlibel by businessman Wilfredo Keng and had posted bail after National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents brought the Rappler office an arrest order on her but it was made an international sensation on the premise that the government ordered the arrest of a critic of Mr. Duterte.

“In here, it was clear that the case was between a private individual, a private businessman in the name of Wilfredo Keng and Miss Ressa and her news outfit Rappler,” Andanar said.

“These are the ironies of their arguments or the paradox of their argument they are not media, now they are shouting press freedom when it suits them,” Andanar said.

Andanar added what is important is the “thousands of media workers in the Philippines.”

“And if you ask every media worker “is there a chilling effect?” I don’t think so. If you’ll ask the Cagayan de Oro Press Club, the National Press Club, the Butuan Press Club, the Surigao Press Club, I don’t think they (feel threatened) similar to the claim of Ms. Ressa and all of her colleagues in Rappler,” he said.

Andanar added Ressa may have her particular advocacy and Rappler has its own policies.

“So, you know we respect that but to say that this administration is killing press freedom is really wrong and it is pure disinformation.”

“We will convince international media that before they judge, they should visit the country and talk directly to local mediamen. Another question I want to pose is “have you even contacted Mr. Keng?” he said.

Did they get his side, if not, they are not working as objective journalists. So, they’re already actually violating the journalists’ code of ethics, Andanar said.

“They should ensure that the other side of the story is brought out and at the same time, if there are substantive errors, it should be corrected,” he said.

He cited as example the Associated Press. “I think they corrected their story about Ms. Ressa’s arrest,” he said.

“The government considers Rappler as online media. I think their defense during that case on the decision of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to nullify their business, due to the investors from outside the country, they said Rappler is not considered media,” Andanar said.

“We know that media under Philippine law should be 100 percent Filipino-owned. So, I don’t know, maybe that was one of their alibis,” according to Andanar.

But anyway, in the case of Ms. Ressa and Wilfredo Keng, I would really advise the international press to get the side of Keng who you know is a businessman, Andanar said.

As co-chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, we follow a lot of libel cases and that of Ms. Ressa was not an exception.

“So, what I’m saying is that Ms. Ressa is no exception to the rule,” he added.

“But what did Rappler say? We are weaponizing the legal system?” he said.

“If we have a right to speak, we have freedom of expression, freedom of the press, those offended also had the right to file a legal case. What I want to say is that there are limitations to freedom of the press,” Andanar added.

“We just need to work within the legal system. That was what Mr. Keng did,” he said. “Let’s just observe what will happen in the next few weeks in what happens at the court. But this is a very interesting case since a complaint of a private individual is being blamed on the administration. That is similar to blaming the death of Andres Bonifacio to the Duterte administration so that is a stretch,” he said.

“The President did not even know that Ms. Ressa was arrested,” he added.