Read in: Pilipino

Duterte’s clowns spares no time in deceiving and sowing confusion. In the face of yet another series of lockdowns that starve and impoverish the masses even further, DILG Sec. Hermogenes Esperon smugly proclaimed that the government gives adequate aid – despite the public outcry and demand for ayuda. Before this, Spokesperson Harry Roque feigned anger while pretending to search for the person behind the fake news that individuals not yet vaccinated will not be permitted to go out in public. Funny thing is, this so-called fake news actually came straight out from his boss Duterte’s mouth.

Fake news, dirty psywar and disinformation are crucial components of Duterte’s tyranny. This goes hand-in-hand with outright and whole-hog state fascism. Roque, Esperon, other bootlickers in the government and thousands of Duterte’s troll farms are paid to flood the media with confounding information and lies. They aim to shroud society with turmoil and fear in order to hinder the mass struggle. All the while, moiling to salvage the regime that the people disavows – even more, now that election time is just around the corner.

Aside from its role in maintaining Duterte’s fascist reign, the senseless, vacillant statements and fake information that he himself propagates are also symptoms of his worsening health that he hides from the public eye. Despite his persistence to remain in power in order to save himself from paying for all his crimes against the people, Duterte cannot deny that he is indeed gravely ill. This only minified his already mediocre leadership. Are not Roque’s excuses that his president was only joking or that the public just misinterpreted Duterte entirely worn out by now? They even went as far as saying that Duterte is a Visayan hence his supposed difficulty in finding the words he meant to say.

NDF-Bikol joins the Filipino people in hunting down the troll and fake king Duterte as well as all his stooges who stand as factories of fake news and deceit. Instead of allocating the public funds for substantive and concrete programs that shall profit the people, they waste away the public treasury for the perpetuation and aggrandization of the culture of disinformation.

However, no matter how the reactionaries control and derail the flow of information, the people’s critical thinking and decisiveness to pursue the common interest shall always prevail. However they bend and turn reality, there will always be someone to stand for the truth. In the end, the people can count on the entire revolutionary movement to be with them as they champion the torch of truth and justice.