The hashtags used by the Presidential Communications Office (PCOO) to “combat fake news”. See pinned post here https://web.facebook.com/pconetwork?__tn__=*s-R&_rdc=1&_rdr

Interesting the way the PCOO claims to combat disinformation. It launched the program months back “to help the government in educating the people to discern and to counter the spread of fake news and disinformation,” according to a report by the Philippine News Agency (PNA).

“The government is throwing the gauntlet against fake news by using available resources,” the PNA said. “Disinformation is seen as a threat to democracy and economy of the country.”

Let’s parse that word, “disinformation”.

False information is spread by either misinformation or disinformation.

MISINFORMATION is presenting a false claim by mistake. It is easily corrected by education (and some humility).

DISINFORMATION is spreading intentionally false or inaccurate information. It is an act of deception, the creation and dissemination of false statements and presenting these as true.

The PCOO Undersecretary for New Media, Lorraine Marie Badoy, is in charge of the #DismissDisinformation project, which is aimed primarily at netizens.

Badoy on August 7 used #DismissDisinformation and #DismissDis to warn followers about media reports on Nestle in the Philippines.

But IS IT DISINFORMATION, as she claims?

Several publications had reported that Nestle was thinking of moving its coffee manufacturing business to other Southeast Asian nations. Among the reasons cited were lopsided tax burdens in the Philippines, especially between manufacturers who use local agri products (like Nestle) or those who mostly import raw ingredients.

This, Badoy claims, is disinformation. She presents nothing to back up her accusation, except for a screencap of a Nestle statement, that says, “Nestle is here to stay.” Badoy doesn’t link to anything, not to any of the offending news stories. She just charges some nebulous entities with disinformation.

She didn’t track subsequent developments either.

However, Nikkei, one of the news outfits that carried the supposed “disinformation,” did a follow up story that firmly stood on its original report.

“Nestle backtracks on threat to close Philippine coffee plant,” says the headline. A blurb reads, “Stung by public reaction, company says it expects to stay for ‘next 100 years’’

You can read the whole story here: https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Business-Trends/Nestle-backtracks-on-threat-to-close-Philippine-coffee-plant

Another news outfit, The Manila Standard, gave a clear rundown:

“Nestlé Philippines said Friday it will continue coffee production in the Philippines despite higher cost and stiff competition by adjusting to emerging demands and introducing innovations that will address market concerns.

The company clarified its earlier statement that it may transfer its coffee manufacturing business either to Indonesia, Vietnam or Malaysia where laws and incentives are more stable than the Philippines.

“We have been operating in the Philippines for 107 years now, and we look forward to doing business here in the next 100 years. Nestlé is here to stay,” the company said in a statement.

Nestlé Philippines vice president for communications Ernesto Mascenon earlier said local coffee producers needed government support against increasing import volumes.

“We’re requesting them [the government] for Train (Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion) 2 to address the disadvantage of local manufacturers who use local agricultural products against those who are importing finished products, especially from Asean,” Mascenon aid.

“Otherwise, we will close down our manufacturing here and just move on to Indonesia, Malaysia or Vietnam and import finished products,” he added.”

Perhaps, Badoy should have done more additional research. She should have also noticed that Nestle did not deny that one of its officers had said what reporters quoted him as saying.

The PCOO has had a string of false reports, so it’s not the most authoritative fact-checker in town. Badoy also has hurled false claims, notably against Sen. Manny Pacquiao. Remember that compilation of magtataho tsismis?

The media reports she slams as “disinformation” are hardly that. Not even “misinformation,” because they have clear quotes from an officer of Nestle. I’m not going to speculate why he said that.

This kind of sloppy work could just raise suspicion that this latest noble program is just one more avenue of attack against news sites whose stories run counter to government’s interest to peddle the “good and beautiful.”