Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III denounced Friday what he described as concerted efforts and propaganda by certain quarters aimed at discrediting him and the Senate leadership.
Addressing his colleagues on the Senate floor, Sotto cited the ‘numerous and coordinated circulation of fake news’ regarding new tax measures he was falsely credited with endorsing.
‘In my 24 years in the Senate, I have never proposed any additional tax measures. In fact, I have consistently voted against them,’ he said.
‘So to the peddlers of fake news, I’ll just pray for you,’ Sotto added as he urged Filipinos not to believe quickly, ‘especially when the news is bad.’
In an interview after the session, Sotto said there appeared to be a concerted effort to discredit him and the Senate-one they began noticing on September 8.
‘Because we noticed that since September 8, every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, fake news comes out against me, Sen. Lacson, and Sen. Zubiri,’ he said, referring to Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson and Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri.
‘Then on Monday, there’s supposedly a coup-every weekend. So, is this staged?’ Sotto said. ‘I think there’s a concerted effort by some quarters. I don’t know who, but we’ll try to find out.’
Why would they be targeted?
Sotto suggested that their critics may have found no credible grounds against them-so they resorted to spreading fake news.
He reiterated that he had not filed any tax measures and could not recall any colleague who might have introduced new tax proposals.
‘As a matter of fact, if I were to file, I’d push for a tax deduction,’ the Senate chief said.
A social media post, for example, falsely claims that Sotto is pushing for a 50 percent tax on the income of content creators. /mcm/abc