- Liberal Party spokesman calls out mayor on online behavior of some of his supporters
- He tells Duterte since he preaches discipline, he should start with his own followers
- He says mayor should tell supporters to stop spreading fake pro-Duterte stories online
MANILA, Philippines – With the presidential campaign heating up on social media, Liberal Party spokesman Barry Gutierrez dared Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to impose the kind of discipline he regularly espouses on his own followers with regards to the unruly online behavior displayed by some.
“We challenge Mayor Duterte to show the discipline he says he will bring to the country. He can start with his supporters,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
According to Gutierrez, the mayor—if he is sincere with his plan—should tell his followers to stop making up stories of him being supposedly endorsed by well-known personalities.
“He should tell them to stop spreading lies like the fake endorsement of the Pope (Francis), (US President Barack) Obama and (Senator) Miriam (Defensor-Santiago), and the story of the nurse who was supposedly in Tacloban during the typhoon.”
Posts of the pope and the US President endorsing the mayor are regularly shared online by his followers along with a picture of showing Santiago purportedly wearing a pro-Duterte shirt.
The Tacloban nurse story, which narrates a supposed Canadian-based nurse’s volunteer service in post-Typhoon Yolanda and her criticism of Roxas’ leadership style in favor of Duterte’s, was also outed as fake after the picture of the nurse which was used in the post was discovered to have been taken from a different article.
In calling for the mayor to discipline his followers, Gutierrez said they just want to elevate the level of discussions above mudslinging and towards real issues.
“Let’s work together to raise the level of discourse in this election. Let’s do this for the country,” he said.
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