Andanar described Ressa’s allegations that activists and news organizations face “top-down persecution by the government” as baseless and absurd. #MartinAndanar

PCOO Sec. Martin Andanar says Duterte maintains a high satisfaction and approval rating. (PCOO)

Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar has refuted accusations that democracy is dead in the Philippines as contained in an opinion piece of Rappler CEO Maria Ressa published on The Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.

“It is tragic that Ms. Ressa remains out of touch with the political realities on the ground as she continues to insinuate that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte won through lies and fake propaganda,” said Andanar in a statement issued Saturday in response to the article titled

“Opinion: Americans, look to the Philippines to see a dystopian future created by social media.”

“The President won fair and square and trashed his nearest political rival with the largest electoral margin in Philippine history. Simply put, the CEO of Rappler refuses to accept that the President is what the people truly wanted and needed. The people hoped for an action man who can bring positive change to their lives and the Filipino people got what they wanted and truly wanted. His style of governance, albeit unorthodox, resonates with the people. This is not democracy being torn apart but rather democracy naturally playing out,” said Andanar.

Andanar said his arguments are based on facts noting that Duterte maintains a high satisfaction rating of 80 percent and 85 percent approval and trust rating coming from surveys of two independent pollsters despite the black propaganda and loud political noise waged against him.

Likewise, a non-commissioned survey conducted in the third quarter of 2018 showed that 84 percent of Filipinos are satisfied with the way democracy works in the country.

In her article, Ressa continues to claim that 27,000 drug addicts were allegedly killed in the Philippines. But Andanar said the number is actually the total homicide cases including cases not related to the drug war.

“Sticking to the hard facts that came from our law enforcement agencies, the number of unfortunate deaths from legitimate police operations are only 5,526,” he said.

Andanar added, “The government reiterates that this anti-illegal drug campaign is backed by the public. In the second quarter, 82% of adult Filipinos are satisfied with this campaign according to another Social Weather Stations survey.”

The PCOO secretary assured that the government does not employ “disinformation tactics.”

“This is not the policy and the practice of the Duterte administration. Our office at the Presidential Communications Operations Office is at the forefront to combat disinformation not only to clear out matters that concern the government but also to empower individuals to be responsible and vigilant consumers of media, especially in the digital space, through our ‘Dismiss Disinformation’ campaign and other of our many programs,” he said.

Meanwhile, Andanar described Ressa’s allegations that activists and news organizations face “top-down persecution by the government” as baseless and absurd.

“In fact, despite hurling criticisms against news organizations that carry fake news about his administration, the Chief Executive still signed his very first administrative order as Chief Executive creating an inter-agency body tasked to protect members of the press. The President also recently signed Republic Act 11458, which expands the coverage of exemptions from revealing the source of published news or information obtained in confidence,” said Andanar.

“It is not the policy and practice of the current government to “harass” dissenters, as we only present our side of the story,” he said.