In an October 18 tweet, producer and broadcast journalist Atom Araullo condemned a netizen who tweeted and repeatedly red-tagged his mother.
He said that disinformation is a global problem which could have fatal consequences.
“I don’t usually call out private individuals here, but behavior like this should not be normalized. Disinformation is a huge problem globally, one that can have deadly consequences,” Araullo said.
He included proof in his post where twitter user @Jey_Owh labelled Araullo’s mother as an ‘NPA.’
The screenshots also showed the twitter handle accused the Araullo’s mother of leading multiple acts of terrorism.
“Eh pano naman yung nanay mong utak ng bomba sa Mendiola massacre? Nanay mong utak ng bombing sa mendiola through light a fire movement pano hustisya para sa kanila? Matuto ka namang mahiya huy” wrote @Jey_Owh in one of the screenshots.
@Jey_Owh, don’t do that. These are lies, probably fed to you by some of the influencers you follow. Kailan pa naging katanggap-tanggap yung ganito?
— Atom Araullo (@atomaraullo) October 18, 2022
Araullo was quick to condemn and call out the netizen. He also denied the allegations and explained that behavior like this should never be tolerated.
He and his mother both graduated from the University of the Philippines where they would find themselves embracing activism through their ‘personal’ journeys.
Araullo admitted in a one-on-one interview in 2021 that a large part of his character can be attributed to his several years of participating in activism.
The Kapuso broadcast journalist is no stranger to red-tagging. During the release of his I-Witness documentary Ang Iskul Kong Bakwit in 2020, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and some leaders of the Indigenous Peoples (IP) said that his documentary forwards the “agenda of [the] NPA.”
“Replete with gross inaccuracies and outright lies” commented the NTF-ELCAC on the documentary.
The NUJP and IFJ supported Araullo in an official statement back in August 2020 saying “the NTF-ELCAC should stop attempting to control the narrative by vilifying those that present a contrary view.”
They added that they stand solidly behind I-Witness and Araullo.
