A viral graphic circulating on Facebook claims Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano had said he was about to resign but God told him to stay on. This is satire.
The image itself has a disclaimer “satire” at the lower-left corner, indicating that the content was not intended to be factual.
On June 23, the graphics card was posted in a public group with a text that reads:
“I was about to resign sa posisyon pero kinausap ako ng Diyos na magpatuloy ako.”
(I was about to resign from my position, but God spoke to me and told me to stay on).”
The post is captioned:
“Sinabi talaga ni Lord yan (The Lord really said that)?”
Despite the satire label, netizens were still misled into believing the claim was true, leaving comments mocking Cayetano, such as:
“Malala na ang tama nito sa utak. May mga naririnig na ‘tong bumubulong sa kanya. Di niya alam sarili niya ‘yon. Ungas, malapit ka na maging taong grasa
(His brain is already badly damaged. He can already hear things whispering to him. He doesn’t know it’s himself. You, fool, you’re about to become a street vagrant).”
“Malapit na ang pagpasok sa mental hospital( He’s about to be admitted in a mental hospital).”
“Pakitanong kay Lord kung kailan mo ibibigay yung 10k 😂😂😂” (Please ask the Lord when you’ll give the P10,000 😂😂😂)
“Quiboloy in the making!”
“Akala ko ng taumbayan? Ngayon naman ginagamit ang Diyos para sa sariling interes 🤦🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️” (I thought [it’s] the people? Now God is being used for personal gain 🤦🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️).”
The graphic poked fun at the political tensions surrounding the Senate leadership squabble in the past few weeks.
The satirical post circulated online after Cayetano was formally replaced by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian as Senate president on June 17, when Sen. Joel Villanueva attended the special session and joined the majority, providing the crucial 13th vote to formally elect Gatchalian to the top post.
Cayetano was elected on May 11 as Senate president after his allies ousted Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III. However, he served for 23 days only because the Sotto-led bloc managed to get 12 votes on June 3 that enabled them to establish a quorum and installed Gatchalian as Senate president pro tempore and designated him as acting Senate president. .
The post was published in the public group House of Representa-thieves: Butasang Pambulsa with 164,400 members. As of writing, the post has garnered 1,786 reactions, 440 comments, and 59 shares.
