News outlet apologizes to VP Sara Duterte over 'spliced' video

Vice President Sara Duterte has criticized a video posted by Abante News featuring her remarks about hiring a gunman for ₱5,000, calling the clip spliced and taken out of context.

In a statement, Duterte accused the news outlet of airing a selectively edited clip of her speech outside the International Criminal Court (ICC), omitting her subsequent explanation.

She claimed the excerpt was "deliberately spliced and misleading" to "generate public outrage and online engagement at the expense of accuracy and responsible journalism."

In the circulated video, Duterte can be heard saying she could hire a gunman for ₱5,000 to kill her husband's alleged mistress. However, the Vice President clarified that the remark was part of a broader discussion on the prevalence of gun violence in the country.

She argued that homicides in the Philippines are often easily contracted and should not be automatically attributed to former President Rodrigo Duterte’s state-sanctioned anti-drug campaign.

Responding to the backlash, Abante News noted that it was not the original source of the footage and pointed out that several other media organizations had shared the exact same clip.

“Kung ang isyu ay ang konteksto o pagkaka-edit nito, nararapat na maging pare-pareho ang pamantayan at hindi lamang Abante ang matukoy,” the outlet stated, emphasizing that standards should be applied consistently across all media organizations.

Despite defending its position, Abante News issued an apology to the Vice President as a gesture of accountability, adding, “Salamat sa OVP at sa kanilang staff sa patuloy na pagsubaybay sa mga nilalaman ng Abante.”

-Paraluman News