PNS — BLACK propaganda, it seems, is again becoming a favorite election tool of certain candidates and political parties.
So says the Nacionalista Party, claiming that there is a new text message in circulation saying that a foundation of its standard-bearer, former Senate President Manuel Villar Jr., is giving away cash prizes to the public.
The NP says the text message has already reached the attention of its presidential bet.
The alleged misleading text message reads: “The auditors of Manny Villar charity foundation informed you that your cell phone number won P950,000 second prize winner drawn last 02-05-10. Handog Pabahay sa mga OFW.”
Yesterday, the NP secretariat warned the public not to fall for such text message.
“This text message is fake and meant to mislead people and is obviously politically motivated. The text message even indicated a DTI permit number and a lawyer’s name to look authentic. But we would like to inform the public that Senator Villar’s foundation has not launched any promotions or contests,” according to the NP.
The NP said that other text messages have begun to attack Villar, especially after the latest results of the Pulse Asia survey showed that he has come into a statistical tie with Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, the Liberal Party’s presidential candidate.
Only during the last weekend, the NP said derogatory text messages were circulated, claiming that Villar is the “secret candidate” of Malacañang.
The same message claimed that Villar had a secret meeting with First Gentleman Miguel Arroyo at the house of former presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor purportedly to make President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo the Speaker of the House of Representatives once Villar is elected president in the forthcoming elections.
The senator has vehemently denied the accusation, describing it as a sign of “desperation” of his opponents who want to malign his reputation and pull him down in the race for the presidency.