{"id":143626,"date":"2018-01-04T01:24:53","date_gmt":"2018-01-04T06:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=143626"},"modified":"2018-01-04T01:24:53","modified_gmt":"2018-01-04T06:24:53","slug":"social-media-a-weapon-of-mass-destruction-for-public-officials-gatchalian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/01\/04\/social-media-a-weapon-of-mass-destruction-for-public-officials-gatchalian\/","title":{"rendered":"Social media a weapon of mass destruction for public officials: Gatchalian"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: In an interview with ANC\u2019s Headstart, Gatchalian said he is saddened that the internet, which is set to come up with \u201cgood ideas and good opinions\u201d, is also meant to destroy people. (Senate PRIB Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA, Philippines \u2014 Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Thursday expressed grief that social media is now being used against public officials, after drawing flak following a Twitter outburst calling his online bashers or \u201ctrolls\u201d as \u201cul*l\u201d and \u201cg*go\u201d.<\/p>\n

In an interview with ANC\u2019s Headstart, Gatchalian said he is saddened that the internet, which is set to come up with \u201cgood ideas and good opinions,\u201d is also meant to destroy people.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really a sad part of social media and the free market of ideas and comments because this arena now became a weapon of mass destruction for public servants and against public officials,\u201d Gatchalian said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the sad part because the internet is designed to come up with good ideas and good opinions but it\u2019s also designed to ruin certain people,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Earlier, netizens hit Gatchalian for posting curses and foul words on Twitter on the New Year\u2019s Eve when the latter, using his personal Twitter account, commented \u201cThe nation already lost its soul in the last 6 years\u201d to an online article about the Liberal Party.<\/p>\n

Netizens then branded the senator \u201cbalimbing<\/em> (political turncoat)\u201d and \u201ctrapo<\/em>\u201d or traditional politician, prompting Gatchalian to reply, \u201cGago ka (You’re stupid)!\u201d to a netizen.<\/p>\n

He also called an online detractor as \u201cul*l (deranged).\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the lawmaker said there should be an instrument to watch after organizations that fund online trolls who are pushing for their political agenda, noting, however, that there should never be a law that would control free speech.<\/p>\n

Gatchalian also stood firm that he will not apologize to \u201cpaid individuals\u201d who are designed to \u201cdestroy\u201d and \u201cbring out the worst\u201d in him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see the reason to delete it because again we\u2019re talking to people who are organized and paid to attack you\u2026We can engage one another in a healthy debate but when it\u2019s a troll then I don\u2019t see the reason of apologizing,\u201d Gatchalian said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are paid individuals, robots that are designed to destroy you and to bring out the worst in you. So why will I apologize to these people who are designed to bring out the worst in you,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA, Philippines \u2014 Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Thursday expressed grief that social media is now being used against public officials, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":143627,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[14359,960,1690],"class_list":["post-143626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-senator-sherwin-gatchalian","tag-social-media","tag-twitter","mauthors-carlo-jacob-molina","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}