Arevalo and Alunan’s fake news rousing anti-Chinese racist paranoia
Second of three parts
EDGARD Arevalo and Rafael Alunan 3rd’s fake news that they’ve disguised as opinion pieces in this respected newspaper are not just of the vilest kind, as they even embellished with their own lies the original fake news. They stupidly (or perhaps deliberately) copied and pasted an anonymously written piece on a dubious website that doesn’t even reveal their owners, editors and writers.
Worse, the two columnists are rousing racist anti-Chinese paranoia, trying to tap into people’s basest “us versus them” instincts. They have been spreading their fake news that there are now Chinese “sleeper cells” preparing for a Chinese invasion of the Philippines.
While normal people would find such a claim as hilariously idiotic, it seems that they believe that fake conspiracy plot and have been trying hard to spread it. Indeed, Arevalo titled his October 22 column that spread the fake news “Well-founded paranoia,” unaware that that term is an oxymoron. Paranoia is a psychosis, period. It can never be “well-founded.”
In his piece immediately following his fake-news column entitled “Have we been impervious to the invasion?” Arevalo claimed a fellow retired military man reported his own experience meeting such probable Chinese “sleepers.” Although I’m convinced he is merely fabricating such an account to bolster his sleeper-cell fake news, Arevalo wrote that the retired military man rejected an offer by suspicious-looking Chinese to rent his apartment near the Philippine Air Force headquarters when they found out he was retired military.
Arevalo, in his polluted mind, claimed the Chinese here are a new version of “Japanese citizens already in the Philippines as early as 1938 before they invaded the country in 1941, posing as street vendors rivaling the Chinese in selling slippers, taho and other merchandise. Today, Chinese spies may no longer be the lowly neighborhood sari-sari store or karinderya owners. They are either tourists or holding Philippine visas as students, professionals and members of the academe. They may be Philippine offshore gaming operation workers housed in communities or exclusive subdivisions. Some are so-called fifth journalists.[sic]”
China has launched a plan to invade the Philippines. How much worse can one paint the Chinese as evil?
Arevalo reveals himself as an anti-Chinese racist: “They are no longer street vendors and helpers but masters. A retired ranking military officer relates how a Chinese woman moves around their upscale subdivision surrounded by Filipino bodyguards and umbrella bearers.” But is he sure the lady is Chinese? Didn’t she have the right to hire bodyguards because of the increasing incidence of kidnappings here? The Chinese can’t have umbrella-bearers?
China Telecom
Another “evidence” of the coming Chinese invasion Arevalo presents is that “China Telecom — which has been accused of systematically committing espionage — owns 40 percent of a local telecommunications company. That is the same company that was allowed to set up its facilities inside military camps like Camp Emilio Aguinaldo and Fort Andres Bonifacio.”
Billionaire Dennis Uy — who owns 60 percent of that telecom company (DITO Telecommunity) Arevalo is referring to — should sue for libel this arrogant military man pretending to be a columnist, since he is saying that the Chinese-Filipino businessman is a traitor as he is conniving with Chinese infiltrators.
If you think Arevalo is so paranoid he should be put in an institution, read what his fellow spreader-of-fake news, Alunan 3rd, says. Clueless — or pretending to be not informed — 10 days after his sleeper-cell column had been exposed by the National Bureau of Investigation as fake news, he still claimed in an online tabloid: “China is positioning its clandestine for future action.”
Unbelievably, Alunan is asking for what normal people would immediately see as a witch-hunt: “There ought to be a persistent campaign to sanitize our communities of Trojan horses and sleeper cells nationwide. China’s supporting most probably proxy organizations like rebel groups, friendship societies, business conglomerates and united fronts to advance China’s core interest of ‘indisputable sovereignty’ in our maritime domains and to take effective control of the country.” Alunan is in a very serious delusion: That kind of campaign is undertaken only when a country is at war — hot or cold — with another.
Tarriela
Arevalo, Alunan and another ignoramus, Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela, are trying to intimidate those who are critical and well-informed enough not to believe the US propaganda on our disputes with China, by branding them as unpatriotic. Indeed as that famous saying some attribute to Cicero: “When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.”
I couldn’t believe Tarriela’s ridiculous post in X (Twitter), but then I remembered he was kicked out of the Philippine Military Academy for cheating and most probably had to take his college from some diploma-mill school; he seems to be ashamed to identify in his CV.
His post read: “Here in the Philippines, there have been cases where individuals suspected of sympathizing with communism or being leftists have been arrested or questioned by the military. Consequently, some argue that it is an appropriate moment for lawmakers to contemplate redefining treasonous acts, particularly in relation to foreign influence.
Through this new law, the PNP and other law enforcement agencies, and even the military, would have the authority to arrest and investigate individuals suspected of involvement in Beijing’s information operation. If implemented, this legislation could effectively curtail the proliferation of Chinese fake news purveyors, pro-China apologists, and paid trolls, thereby addressing concerns surrounding misinformation and foreign influence.”
Law
Tarriela is recommending a law to throw in jail people who do not believe and do not disseminate the US propaganda line on the South China Sea disputes? It has become obvious, I think, that it is people like Tarriela who are the agents of a foreign power, still the most powerful on earth, the US. Tarriela and his gang obviously are ignorant fascists.
Tarriela himself announced on his Facebook page: “I am incredibly grateful to the East West Center in Washington for granting me the opportunity to pursue my US Philippines Alliance Fellowship, even though I will only have a two-week window to conduct my research. This is a remarkable chance for me to connect with key government officials and policy experts in Washington who are ardent supporters of the Philippine government’s transparency initiative to expose China’s aggressive actions and gray zone tactics in the West Philippine Sea.”
That’s obviously a reward for his vehement anti-China pro-US rhetoric. Or maybe even something more serious and treasonous.
On Friday: The worst fake news over the South China Sea disputes
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Arevalo and Alunan’s fake news rousing anti-Chinese racist paranoia
Source: Breaking News PH
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