Malacañang on Friday cleared athlete Gretchen Ho and Olympian Hidilyn Diaz of any involvement in the alleged plot to oust President Rodrigo Duterte, blaming journalists for the “wrong analysis” of the diagrams.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said “some media outfits” erred when they reported that both Ho and Diaz were implicated in the plot.
“No, the diagram only showed that Rodel Jayme is active on Facebook, showing who he follows and visualizing his character, persuasion, and political interests,” Panelo said Friday.
“They were shown [in the diagram] but that doesn’t mean they’re involved,” he added.
He said he would not apologize to Ho and Diaz, and said it was the journalists who should do so.
“The problem was some of your acquaintances released it to the newspapers that they’re involved. Others then believed that they’re indeed involved, but that’s not what the diagram meant,” Panelo said.
He said the diagram, where names of the two athletes were mentioned, was only meant to “visualize” the online activities of Jayme, who has been charged with inciting to sedition for creating a website that shared videos accusing the President’s family and supporters of accepting drug money.
On Wednesday, Panelo presented to the media a new set of diagrams to illustrate a plot aimed at discrediting the Duterte administration and boosting the opposition senatorial slate “Otso Diretso.”
Jayme, the owner and web developer of the Metrobalita.net, was tagged in the same conspiracy, along with the Liberal Party, the Magdalo group, other political personalities, and some media organizations.
Panelo said Metrobalita was identified as the first website to initially circulate the Youtube video series entitled “Ang Totoong Narcolist” in two separate articles dated April 2, 2019.
Panelo said Jayme was directly affiliated with the LP, as he was identified as the administrator of pro-LP Facebook pages such as “The Aquino Legacy.”
Panelo said Jayme also handled the online propaganda machiner of the LP during the 2016 presidential election.
One slide in Panelo’s presentation showed that Jayme follows Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano, Pilo Hilbay, Hidilyn Diaz, and Presh Ong.
Panelo said it was unfortunate that some news organizations “put a spin on the Oust Duterte matrix by instantly assuming” the inclusion of the two athletes.
“It is, therefore, not surprising why a number of people reacted because the said diagram, together with this erroneous analysis, would indeed lead them to question the same,” he said, saying the diagram only reveals Jayme’s disposition online.
“We just hope that the faulty analysis made was not intentional with the sole purpose of casting doubt on the intelligence received and vetted by the Office of the President,” he added.
Also on Friday, Panelo slammed a Facebook page for showing an edited photo of him supposedly endorsing opposition senatorial candidates for the May 13 elections.
He urged Facebook to take the page down.
Malacañang Events and Catering Services, a parody page, posted a photo of Panelo taken from a Palace briefing on Wednesday.
However, instead of showing the conspiracy diagrams, Panelo, as edited in the picture, seemed to be endorsing the opposition “Otso Diretso” senatorial candidates.
“While the Palace understands that the post is a political meme, which is the norm in this campaign season, the same still amounts to a defamatory imputation,” Panelo said.
“I strongly denounce the malicious use of my image for black propaganda and political mudslinging,” he said.
