Sotto plays conspiracy video on coronavirus during Senate probe

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 4) — In the middle of the Senate discussion on the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) on Tuesday, Senate President Vicente Sotto III played a video that pointed at the virus as a US-led bioweapon against China.

Sotto said he received the speculative video on Monday, calling it "interesting, if not revealing." The video surmised that the US government may be "directly involved in the development of the deadly coronavirus strain" in order to quell China's growing power. However, it did not cite official sources to explain the theory.

"Everything apparently points to biowarfare being waged against China," text in the video read.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro "Teddyboy" Locsin Jr. was unconvinced. He called the video, which was from Youtube channel The Atlantis Report, "an example of one of the craziest videos I have ever seen."

"There is no doubt that there are people abroad in the West who are perhaps happy that this is happening to China...unfortunately for them, if that is true, this disease is only proving the resilience and strength of China," argued Locsin who was also at the Senate hearing.

He also debunked the notion that China was supposedly hiding information from the public. Locsin said China was already warning its nearby consulates about the virus before they were sure about it.

Sotto said he shared the video to gain another perspective on the issue.

"It is best that we are aware of what other people are saying on this coronavirus," Sotto defended.

Later on, he told CNN Philippines an acquaintance overseas shared the video to him but he has yet to know who was the news outlet behind it.

When asked if he had searched other reports quoting experts that debunked the conspiracy claims, the Senate President replied "[I] will check it out."

During an ambush interview, Senator Christopher "Bong" Go called for the public to prevent the spread of fake news surrounding 2019-nCoV.

"'Wag na po tayo magpanic. 'Wag tayo magkalat ng mga fake news. Tulungan po natin ang ating mga kababayan, 'yung mga totoong balita po," he told reporters after the hearing.

[Translation: Let us not panic. Let us not spread fake news. Let us help our fellowmen, (spread) confirmed news only]

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra also instructed the National Bureau of Investigation to probe "alleged deliberate spread of misinformation and news" about 2019-nCoV.

The Health Department said there are have been people under observation for 2019-nCoV. The country already recorded two confirmed cases including its first death — a 44-year-old Chinese man.

Multi-platform Writer Xave Gregorio contributed to this report.