Panelo clears Diaz, Ho; blames media for ‘faulty analysis’

Athlete-turned-television host Gretchen Ho and Olympian Hidilyn Diaz are not involved in supposed efforts to destabilize the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, his spokesperson said Friday.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo issued the clarification after the two women  questioned their inclusion in the expanded matrix containing the names of people and groups that are allegedly looking to discredit the government and boost the candidacies of opposition senatorial bets.

“In the first place hindi naman sila involved [in the alleged destabilization plot],” he told reporters, as he blamed the media for making a “wrong analysis” of the diagram.

It was Panelo who disclosed to the media on Wednesday the matrix that included the names of Ho and Diaz, a day after Ho attended a dinner hosted by the President and his partner Honeylet Avanceña for celebrity supporters in Malacañang. Panelo did not discuss their inclusion in the diagram on Wednesday’s briefing.

On Friday, Panelo said the diagram only showed the social media accounts Rodel Jayme is “actively following, to visualize his character, as well his political and social interests.”

Jayme is the creator of the Metro Balita website that was allegedly used to share the video series "Ang Totoong Narco List" that tagged members of the First Family and their associates in the illegal drug trade. He is now facing charges for inciting to sedition before a Parañaque court.

“It is in this context that the names of Mses. Ho and Diaz appeared,” Panelo said in a separate statement.

“The subject slide which was flashed onto a screen during the press briefing simply proves that the account of Mr. Jayme is real as it reveals his disposition online.”

Panelo said the media’s faulty analysis of the diagram became the basis for the “wrong conclusions” made by Diaz, Ho and some readers.

“It is therefore not surprising why a number of people reacted because the said diagram, together with this erroneous analysis, would indeed lead them to question the same,” he said.

“We just hope that the faulty analysis made were not intentional with the sole purpose of casting doubt on the intelligence received and vetted by the Office of the President.”

Despite the clarification, Panelo said he would not apologize to Diaz and Ho.

“No. I think those who should apologize are those who wrongly analyzed [the diagram],” he said.

“That matrix is not mine. I did not make that matrix – ako tuloy ang binabanatan eh – I’m just the messenger. Binasa ko lang, prinesent ko lang.”

Diaz, an Air Force sergeant working to compete in the weightlifting event of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, said she had no time to be involved in such things.

Ho, meanwhile, said she had yet to watch the videos that linked Duterte's loved ones to illegal drugs.

Senator Panfilo Lacson said on Thursday the inclusion of Diaz and Ho in the matrix either involved “excellent intelligence work” or “Bikoy,” the hooded narrator in the “Ang Totoong Narcolist” videos, had “infiltrated” the country’s intelligence and security agency.—LDF/RSJ, GMA News