Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar has assured Sen. Bam Aquino that he would try to reach out to President Rodrigo Duterte’s online supporters to stop spreading misinformation and hate speech in social media.

“Would you be willing to talk to owners of these websites, a number of them carrying President Duterte’s name, and convince them to stop spreading misinformation, disinformation and hate speech against critics of the President,” Aquino asked Andanar during the Tuesday’s Senate committee hearing on fake news.

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“Maraming supporter si Presidente na may kanya-kanyang Facebook pages,” Andanar said. “Hindi po sila under ng PCOO… Hindi ko po kilala yung mga may-ari ng pages na yun. Pero I can certainly ask around kung kilala nila yung mga may-ari ng pages na ito.”

During the first hearing on fake news on Oct. 4, 2017, Aquino shared a list of websites that produce fake and misleading news stories, a number of which used the name of the President.

While Andanar said that pro-Duterte websites and Facebook pages were established during the 2016 campaign when he was still a member of the mainstream media, the PCOO chief has said he would “reach to the original core group” of the campaign, who could then reach to administrators of the said pages.

The senator also urged the PCOO chief to police his own ranks, saying blogs written by some of his employees in their private capacity may “hurt the image of the agency.”

“Sana siguruhin niyo na ang miyembro ng inyong opisina, hindi gumagawa ng misinformation, disinformation and hate speech,” Aquino said.

Aquino likewise called on the detractors of the President to “stop throwing hate speech at each on social media,” noting that the platform has become “horrendous.”

“Iyong batikos walang namang problema. Iyong kritisismo wala ring problema. Pero kapag humahantong na sa peke, sa panloloko o sa mararahas na pananalita, sana magkaisa tayo na itigil na ito,” he said.

One of the bloggers being tagged as purveyors of fake news by some resource speakers present at the hearing was Communications Assistant Secretary Margaux “Mocha” Uson.

While saying that Uson’s blog does not reflect the opinion of the government, Andanar said he had talked to Uson about her blogs and she had taken down some of her posts. /atm

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