A report published on the GMA News Online website states, “Illegal foreign workers should not be allowed to steal jobs from Filipinos, Vice President Leni Robredo said Tuesday.” However there seems to be nothing in what is quoted verbatim from Robredo’s statements in the report itself that shows she was referring to illegal aliens when she hinted that foreign workers “steal jobs” from Filipinos.
Did Llanesca T. Panti, author of the report LIE? If she did, then this is a grossly irresponsible piece of journalism that should not be tolerated.
Panti also reports in the same GMA News Online story that “President Rodrigo Duterte said that illegal Chinese workers in the country can stay since deporting them could mean a backlash for Filipinos who are working in China.” However a report published on The Philippine Star quotes Duterte verbatim:
“Iyong mga Chinese dito hayaan mo ‘yan na dito magtrabaho. Hayaan mo (Allow the Chinese here to work. Let them),” Duterte said in his speech during the campaign rally of PDP-Laban in Laguna.
Clearly, nowhere in his statement did Duterte suggest that “illegal Chinese workers in the country can stay” as Panti reported on GMA News Online.
This is a case of media deliberately spreading disinformation about an important issue that could cause unnecessary animosity between Filipinos and both guest foreign workers and permanent residents of foreign origin living among them.
This is both irresponsible and dishonest journalism and should be dealt with by the management of GMA News Online immediately.