Once again, the Palace has blamed the press for a problem of its own making.
Hard pressed to explain why two athletes, Gretchen Ho and Hidilyn Diaz, appeared in a diagram that the Palace presented to unmask members of a purported plot to oust the President, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo blamed journalists for the “wrong analysis” of his presentation.
"Some media outfits" erred when they reported that both Ho and Diaz were implicated in the plot, Panelo said, pointing out that the diagram he presented merely showed the online connections of Rodel Jayme, the man the authorities have arrested for sharing online videos accusing the President’s family and allies of accepting drug money.
“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.
The Palace official 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.
Then, with the hint of a threat, he added: "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.”
With all due respect, however, we suggest that it is the presidential spokesman who is guilty of faulty analysis.
After all, the conspiratorial connections that the diagrams are supposed to show have not been proved—and his suggestion that we accept them as verified truth simply on his or the President’s say-so is patently absurd. Without a shred of evidence, the Palace has accused journalists, lawyers and politicians of plotting to overthrow the government—and has even made it a point to say there is no need to provide proof.
If journalists misinterpreted a slide that the presidential spokesman distributed, was it not ultimately his fault for failing to explain the diagram properly? If the goal of the diagrams was to identify those connected with the so-called plot, what need was there to show online connections—such as those to the two athletes—that had nothing to do whatsoever with the alleged conspiracy? Whose fault was it to publicize a diagram that could so easily be misinterpreted?
Far too often, government officials and politicians blame the press for problems of their own making. It is apparent to all that they are merely looking for scapegoats for their own incompetence.
