Netizens lauded GMA News for ‘fact-checking’ President Rodrigo Duterte’s statements. They [netizens] specifically praised and thanked reporter Joseph Morong for sticking to his grounds.
He refuted Duterte’s claim that the Government didn’t lack directives in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic from the start.
A tweet from a clip of Saksi’s where it featured President Duterte’s ‘Hindi tayo nagkulang’ in handling the COVID-19 pandemic.’
"Hindi tayo nagkulang" fact-check by @Joseph_Morong on last night's Saksi https://t.co/pfeYXrEyuL pic.twitter.com/aQGhNcFD7X
— Lucasito (@bashgita) April 17, 2021
The reporter who reported the story, Joseph Morong, immediately narrated a list of breakdowns that refuted the President’s assertion.
“Pero March 11 na idineklara ang pandemya, halos tatlong buwan na bago mapabalita sa buong mundo na may nag kaka pneumonia sa Wuhan, China nung Disyembre 2019. Anong ginawa natin sa pagitang yan?
“Kung tutuusin naghigpit naman tayo January 5 pa lamang sa mga pumapasok sa Pilipinas, January 25 naman pinagbawalan ang mga flight galing Wuhan pero hinde sa ibang bahagi ng China.
“January 28 naman sinuspende ng Pangulo ang probisyon ng Visa on arrival sa mga Chinese tourist pero sabi niya kinabukasan kahit pwedeng I considera ang travel ban galing China.”
Morong even quoted President Duterte where he said, “As of this time, I am not for it. it would not be fair.”
This was what PRRD said regarding Travel Ban from China, which was also agreed by Presidental Spokesperson Harry Roque who said ‘Not at this moment.’
Morong also didn’t miss President Rodrigo’s statement after the first case of COVID-19 in the country, saying that “Nothing really to be extra scared of that Corona Virus thing.”
With the short, but exact reporting of Morong on GMA Network’s Saksi, a lot of netizens reacted and applauded the show for such brave reportage.
Watching @saksi and @Joseph_Morong just broke down the lies of Duterte na ‘hindi sila nagkulang’.
Gisang gisa ka na Duterte.
The only reason you had the gall to say na ‘hindi kayo nagkulang’ eh dahil THATS WHAT YOU WANT YOURSELF TO BELIEVE.
Typical narcissistic behavior.
— kiko rustia (@kikorustia) April 16, 2021
Nagkulang. Nagpabaya. Nagsinungaling.
Duterte lied. People died.
— kiko rustia (@kikorustia) April 17, 2021
Hindi na DDS station ang @gmanews ? Himala!
— Ruhger ruhger (@ruhger) April 17, 2021
But hours after the said ‘fact checking’ report of Morong, the same netizens who commended the network for the news ‘allegedly’ removed Morong’s reportage.
The said tweet of GMA News, which featured Morong’s ‘fact-check’ is no longer available online. It got deleted from twitter and edited out on YouTube, as of this writing.
Wait… the YouTube link I posted above was the 8-minute fact check report when I first posted it. Now @gmanews changed it to a 2-minute inoffensive report. What gives?
— Lucasito (@bashgita) April 17, 2021
And the Saksi video (where I extracted the above video), now does not have the fact check? What the hell is happening?https://t.co/4zdPOCWBeq
— Lucasito (@bashgita) April 17, 2021
https://twitter.com/_deeeputa/status/1383430435598786562?s=20
