The Palace on Sunday defended the “photoshopped” photo of supposed rebel surrenderees distributed by the Philippine Army’s 9th Infantry Division, saying it had not been manipulated since it was merely a “collage.”
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo claimed that the edited photo, which was supposedly taken on Dec. 26, were two photos that were combined in one collage.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and I were talking. The explanation to him was those were two photos that were combined. So it was just collaged. In other words, those were authentic,’’ Panelo said in a radio interview.
So that’s not manipulation. It would be different if the photo was fake to make it appear that many people surrendered.”
Malacañang warned communist rebels to refrain from attacking government forces in the wake of the purported violations of the holiday ceasefire that will last until Jan. 7 next year.
This came after military forces cried foul at the New People’s Army for detonating an improvised explosive device in Iloilo and Camarines Norte on Dec. 23, the first day of the truce.
Panelo said President Rodrigo Duterte remained open to resuming the talks with the rebels despite the recent incidents.
The President gave them another chance so they should avoid the repeat of attacks against government forces,’’ Panelo said.
And amid the plan to revive the peace negotiations, Malacañang on Sunday appealed to the Communist Party of the Philippines’ armed wing, the New People’s Army, to honor the ceasefire deal with the government troops.
Panelo said President Duterte had decided to ignore the recent attacks waged by the NPA rebels despite the implementation of the holiday truce for the sake of the planned resumption of the talks between the state peace negotiators and the members of the CPP’s political arm, the National Democratic Front.
Whatever the reason is, the President gave them another chance, so they should avoid the repeat of attacks against government forces,” Panelo said in an interview with dzIQ.
The photo, sent to reporters with a press release, showed a group of people in Masbate lining up in front of a row of rifles placed on top of a desk.
Lorenzana earlier said he had directed Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Noel Clement to conduct an inquiry and ensure that sanctions were out against those responsible for the manipulated photos.
This is very serious because it undermines the efforts of the whole Organization, the AFP,’’ he was quoted in a report.
The wrongdoing, Lorenzana said, was unacceptable while the military was enjoying an unprecedented high trust rating from the people.
The Philippine Army unit involved, through its spokesman Major Ricky Aguilar, has owned up to the mistake and apologized, saying they edited the picture to ensure the safety of former rebels and their families.
But the group stood by its claim that there were rebel surrenderees.
There were indeed 306 surrenderers in Masbate where negotiations began sometime in October 2019. The actual surrender was done Dec. 26, 2019,” Aguilar said.
In our ardent desire to release timely information, we were not able to double-check the pictures we attached in our press release.” With PNA
