The Office of the President expresses its indignation over the cheap political stunt aimed at embarrassing PRRD. #fakenews #MartinAndanar #bangkokpost #Thaiking

Sec. Andanar shows a copy of the Bangkok Post newspaper to journalists to prove the fake news. (PCOO)

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is set to hunt the source of the fake news that the king of Thailand ordered President Duterte to behave during the ASEAN Summit in Bangkok as Malacañang is deadset in holding accountable those behind the black propaganda.

“I will call the attention of the National Bureau of Investigation to get to the bottom of this if they can use their cyber forensic division to trace the person who spread the fake news and have him pay for what he did,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar said on Friday.

Andanar told Filipino journalists covering the 35th Asean Summit and Related Summits the fake news was made to appear in the 31 October 2019 issue of the Bangkok Post by doctoring the front page image of the English newspaper in Thailand. He showed reporters the original copy of the newspaper with the banner story’s title as “Suvit calls for Thailand to embrace 5G fast, or lag behind rivals.”

One of the alleged anti-Duterte netizens who spread a copy of the fake news on social media on Friday (above). The image has been taken down. (screen grab)

In the fake news version, the title was changed to “King orders PH Duterte, behave during ASEAN summit.” The altered image of the front page was then posted and circulated by alleged Duterte critics on social media in time for his arrival in Bangkok for the summit to embarrass him.

A Bangkok Post journalist confirmed the fake news, said Andanar.

“Evidently, the release is deliberate and malicious as it went viral on the day President Duterte arrived in Thailand to participate in the 35th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits,” said Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo on Saturday.

“The Office of the President expresses its indignation over this cheap political stunt aimed at embarrassing PRRD, thereby humiliating our country which he represents, before the global audience,” Panelo said.

“These raucous anti-Duterte forces should be educated that when the Head of State and the Chief Executive of the Government of the Philippines is on an official trip overseas, we set aside politics — even the bitterest one amongst foes. If this group cannot rally behind a nation’s mandated leader, as he represents not only his office but the image of the nation as a whole, it should at least observe moratorium on their campaign on hate,” he added.

Panelo warned that peddlers of false information must be reminded that Thailand has one of the strictest lese-majeste laws in the world.

“Harming Philippine -Thai bilateral relations by defaming the monarchy through lies and falsehoods is punishable by prison term, and those behind this recent insolence must face such a grim but deserving consequence,” he said. (With PNA)