DOJ to track fake news purveyors on OVP food donation

FILE: Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra during a press briefing in Malacañang. TOTO LOZANO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA – Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Wednesday said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will help in tracing bogus reports that claimed that the office of Vice President Leni Robredo sent spoiled food to a hospital in Quezon City.

“We’ll be ready to help should the (Vice President) wish to pursue the matter,” Guevarra told reporters.

He said he already asked the NBI to take appropriate action against purveyors of misinformation.

“We are asking the NBI to establish a system of monitoring the spread of misinformation in social media, establishing the source, determining if there’s a pattern, habit or scheme, and taking the appropriate steps to preserve evidence of wrongful behavior for possible prosecution in the future,” he added.

The report appeared and circulated on Twitter.

In a press statement, the Diliman Doctors Hospital said while it received food donation on three occasions from the Office of the Vice President, it clarified that “none of which have been found to be spoiled”.

It added that it would welcome a visit from the Vice President.