MOSCOW — Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano has ordered an investigation into alleged phone conversation leaks between President Duterte and US President Donald Trump from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
The Washington Post had published the copy of the transcript of the two leaders’ exchange, which indicated that it came from the DFA’s Office of American Affairs.
The transcript showed them discussing North Korea and Trump praising Mr. Duterte for his war against drugs.
“I ordered a discreet investigation, internal investigation to see if in fact there was a leak or not,” Cayetano told reporters in Moscow, later adding that the probe won’t be discreet anymore since he had announced it publicly.
He also said there would be seminars in the DFA about how to handle these kind of data.
“Remember, the security when it comes to the digital age is different,” he said.
“So it’s also possible that it wasn’t leaked but someone has the capability of intercepting the electronic transfer of data,” he said.
He said he has not read the transcript and therefore could not confirm or deny its contents.
Media restraint
At the same time, Cayetano appealed to the media’s “sense of patriotism and responsibility” when dealing with this kind of information.
“We respect the freedom of the press but also we’re calling for self-restraint in certain matters, diplomatic matters when negotiations are involved and also operational security when it comes to police and military operations,” he said.
He said that when dealing with military operations and diplomacy, there was a lot of privileged information being handled.
“So when information is leaked ahead of time or unnecessarily, it sometimes limits our ability to do our jobs as diplomats,” he said.
There was also a need to keep certain information under wraps because of operational security, and he hopes the members of the press would understand this, he said.
“Be satisfied sometimes with the lack of information not because we’re not transparent but because lives are at stake,” he said.