Categories
FACT CHECK

Post claiming Poe paid rebel groups P20M NEEDS CONTEXT

A Facebook post misleads by singling out re-electionist senator Grace Poe for allegedly giving the New People’s Army P20 million for its endorsement.

It appears the post was based on a news report in The Manila Standard published April that quoted a certain “Ka Nonoy Alcantara” as claiming five senate bets — Poe, Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, Nancy Binay, Serge Osmena and Erin Tanada — paid leftist, communist and rebel groups in exchange for a campaign endorsement.

The Makabayan bloc endorsed the five in March. In a message to VERA Files, the coalition denied knowing a Nonoy Alcantara who also claims to be a political officer of the Makabayan bloc according to the report.

Senators Aquino and Binay and candidate Tañada have denied the accusations.

(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)

(VERA Files is a part of Tsek.ph, a collaborative fact-checking initiative by the academe and the media for the 2019 Philippine midterm elections.)