A Facebook post is claiming that Palace Press Officer Claire Castro had asked the Department of Foreign Affairs to deport the Filipinos who called her ugly in Canada. This is false.
The post published on July 8 is captioned:
“CLAIRE CASTRO HUMINGI NG TULONG SA DFA PARA IPADEPORT ANG TUMAWAG SA KANYA NG PANGIT SA CANADA
Umani ng puna si Claire Castro matapos lumutang ang alegasyong humingi umano siya ng tulong sa DFA para mapa-deport ang isang nasa Canada na tumawag sa kanya ng pangit
(CLAIRE CASTRO SEEKS DFA ASSISTANCE TO DEPORT THOSE WHO CALLED HER UGLY IN CANADA
Claire Castro has drawn criticism after allegations surfaced that she had sought the assistance of DFA to have someone in Canada who called her ugly deported).”
The post contains a graphic card with Castro’s photo, a logo of the page that published the post. The photo used was screengrabbed from a pool video of the Malacañang Press Corps showing Castro talking about the incident in which she was heckled by Filipino protesters during an official visit in Vancouver, Canada.
In a press briefing at Malacañang on July 6, Castro clarified she did not file any request to have those who called her ‘ugly’ deported.
“Hindi po tayo nagsumbong. Hindi po natin alam kung may gagawing aksyon ang Philippine Embassy, ang Ambassador, and Consul General ng Canada, pero as long as I’m concerned, wala po kaming sinumbong.
(We did not file any complaint. We don’t know if the Philippine Embassy, the Ambassador, or the Consul General in Canada will take any action, but as far as I’m concerned, we did not report anyone).”
The DFA announced on July 8 that they were coordinating with Canadian authorities to review security protocols for Philippine officials, following the incident.
The false post surfaced after the hecklers called Castro names, shouting at her and a male companion while they were shooting for a social media content on July 3 about the presidential visit to Vancouver.
The post published by FB page Philippine Daily with 121,000 followers has so far garnered 383,157 reactions, 48,100 comments, and 4,200 shares.
