A fake statement attributed to senatorial candidate Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno’s daughter is making the rounds on social media, misleading readers into thinking she was “angered” by her father’s answer in a senatorial debate.
The fraudulent online post surfaced five days after the Feb. 17 ABS-CBN senatorial debate, where the veteran human rights lawyer was asked about his position on the reinstatement of the death penalty if somebody raped or murdered his child. Diokno said he is against it.
Shared over 5,000 times, a netizen posted the image that carried two statement cards spliced together:
- a July 2017 photo of Diokno’s daughter from her personal Facebook account, juxtaposed with a statement that read, “Wag na wag iboto ang tatay ko Pahamak yan (Don’t ever vote for my father He’s trouble)!”; and
- a December 2018 image of the Senate hopeful next to the quote, “Tutol ako sa death penalty kahit rapin at patayin pa ang aking anak na babae (I’m against the death penalty even if my daughter gets raped and murdered)”.
Laya Diokno’s “quote” is fabricated. No records or news reports online show that she ever discouraged people from voting for her father. On the contrary, a March 10 post on Diokno’s official Facebook page shows Laya campaigning for him.
Prior to this post, Chel Diokno’s quote card had already gone viral on its own. Philstar.com fact-checked the misleading graphic.
(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.)
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