Extrapolation
THE arrest and eventual surrender last week of former president Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court (ICC) has triggered the spread of fake news to go overdrive in social media.
When asked how the government is dealing with this, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said its holding regular press briefings.
On Tuesday in Malacanang, PCO Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro also called on the mainstream media to help the government fight fake news by fact checking stories in socmed.
The mainstream media – composed of TV, radio, and print – has credibility, according to Castro.
Indeed, the press briefings hosted by PCO are helpful. It won’t be a surprise if they would soon be held more often to combat false information.
At any rate, an interesting question was asked during the last press briefing — If the ICC has only 40 plus murder complaints against Duterte and not 30,000 as represented by the number of alleged victims of his bloody drug war, would they qualify as crimes against humanity?
The query made a lot of sense but Castro, a lawyer, found it best to leave the matter to the ICC.
Nevertheless, a non-lawyer’s answer to the quiz is simple.
“Para malaman mong maalat ang isang kawa ng sabaw, hindi mo uubusin ang kawa. Kukuha ka ng kutsara at titikman mo ang sabaw.
‘Yung 40-plus na pagpatay ang pinili ng prosecution para patunayan na may systematic na pagpatay, na alam ni Duterte na nagaganap ang mga pagpatay, at talagang sinadya at may basbas ang mga pagpatay galing sa kanya.
By extrapolation, pwede mo nang i-apply ang mga specific na kaso na ‘yan sa sinasabing 30,000 na pinatay.”
Agree? Of course, this is subject to verification. And as Castro insinuated, the ICC is the one in the best position to make the clarification.
Meanwhile, there was concern about the state of foreign investments in the country amid the noise created by the developments involving the former president.
Castro said the government is unfazed by the frenzy knowing that foreign investors favor leaders who uphold the law.
I agree.
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