The Marcos administration and the office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity (OPAPRU) are one in combating fake news that has spread through digital platforms.

On Saturday, the OPAPRU encouraged Gabriela to accord with the rules in filing complaints against government personnel who is suspected to be involved in kidnapping and harassing one of the organization’s leaders.

OPAPRU Undersecretary, Wilben Mayor, said that they urge organizations like Gabriella to follow the procedures that have long existed in making complaints against our personnel or any official of the government.

“This goes a long way in preventing issues from taking on the character of gathered material devoid of any grain of truth. One cannot truly win the hearts and minds of our people by propagating misinformation,” Mayor added.

The Gabriela Women’s Party, through a social media post, cited some members of OPAPRU in kidnapping and harassing Elizabeth Maynigo who is the Gabriela Party-list Marikina chapter President, last Friday.

Mayor dubbed the allegations as “baseless, irresponsible and unfounded” and denied the harassment.

“The story being peddled by Gabriela that Miss Maynigo was asked to board a vehicle and interrogated by men who identify themselves as OPAPP or former name of OPAPRU is simply illogical, more so mere allegations not supported by appropriate evidence is considered hearsay and only a ploy to mislead the public,” Mayor said.

The Undersecretary added that there are procedures to properly validate and verify the complaints.

Mayor said that the agency administered internal checking when the accusations broke out in social media in order to discover the truth.

OPAPRU did not obtain contact from Gabriela to “raise and seek our response to the concerned rather they went out to besmirch the agency’s reputation.”

“It is far from the mandate of our office. Based on our actions with our personnel, no one has done this kind of thing, this kind of intimidation, because this is not the core values, as I mentioned earlier, of a member of OPAPRU. This is not the character, this is not the core values of our colleagues, so it is, on behalf of our secretary, Secretary Isidro Purisima that we deny that this happened,” the Mayor said.

Mayor added that Gabriela may have forgotten that the OPAPRU is the agency tasked to implement the country’s comprehensive peace process. Being such, the men and women of the agency cannot and will never be engaged in such acts of intimidation, harassment or coercion as purported by Gabriela.

OPAPRU is dedicated to generating peace dialogues and an understanding environment.