ABS-CBN has acted upon an article published online by ManilaLink.com on November 13, 2015 which has become viral.
In the said article, Manila Link says that in their exclusive interview, Piolo Pascual “confirmed that he has been in relationships with both women and men”.
On PhilStar.com, ABS-CBN management immediately took action and clarified that Piolo Pascual has NOT granted any interview with the website. The Kapamilya star said that he did not have any kind of interview with ManilaLink.com and thus, they issued a statement that says “This article is a HOAX. We enjoin the public to beware of HOAX sites such as manilalink.com that intend to malign and destroy the reputation of good people.”
READ: ‘Piolo Pascual confesses he’s gay’ hoax article tricks Pinoy netizens
If one goes to the site of ManilaLink.com and does not bother to scroll down, the reader would miss this description of the site: “the most notorious satirical news portal in the Philippines with article submissions from users all around the globe.”
It doesn’t help too, that some of its articles seem totally legit and that the website looks like a real news website, devoid of any satire. The reader should be very well-read to distinguish what is fact and what is fiction in any particular article. This may have led some netizens to believe that the article titled “Piolo Pascual admits he’s gay” is real and a lot of them even shared it online with their own comments on the side.
Aside from the clarification issued as to the kind of article that Manila Link posted on its website, we would have to watch out for any kind of action that Piolo’s management company, Star Magic Philippines, might do about this issue. Will Star Magic or Piolo himself, take some legal action against Manila Link?
This is an interesting issue to follow especially since it may touch on the limits of freedom of speech. We’ll keep you posted if there’s any new development.
