(Eagle News)–The Palace on Saturday, Nov. 2, condemned the “bogus” report that said President Rodrigo Duterte was ordered by the Thai king to behave, a move the Palace described as the “latest black propaganda waged by the President’s fierce and unthinking critics and detractors.”
In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the release of the report was “malicious and deliberate” as it came upon Duterte’s arrival in Thailand.
“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,” Panelo said.
“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.
He cautioned the “peddlers of false information” that Thailand has “one of the strictest lese-majeste laws in the world.”
The law prohibits anyone from hurling insults at the monarchy.
“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 consequence,” Panelo added.
Communications Secretary Martin Andanar has said the National Bureau of Investigation would look into the source of the supposed article circulating online and which was made to appear it was published on the front page of the Bangkok Post.
Andanar pointed out that a different story had been published in the space of the hard copy of the newspaper where the “fake news” had been supposedly published.
Duterte is on a four-day visit to Thailand, where he is slated to attend the 35th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit.
