A Facebook video claims that Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero was reelected as Senate president following Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson’s resignation as chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee. This is false.
The two-minute clip shown in the video is old.
Published on Oct. 7, the video shows senators during a plenary session, casting their votes for the Senate president. The thumbnail of the video carried an erroneous text that read:
“Chiz Escudero back to Senate president with 19 votes..Sana ibalik din si Sen Marcoleta. Pag alis ni Ping Lacson sa Bleu Ribbon Chairman committees CHIZ IS BACK
(Chiz Escudero is back as Senate president with 19 votes. Hoping they will also put back Sen. Marcoleta after Ping Lacson resigned as Blue Ribbon Committee chairman. CHIZ IS BACK).”
The post has a caption, saying:
“Chiz is Back sana ibalik din si Sen Marcoleta kong totoo man ito (Chiz is back. Hopefully they will also put back Sen. Marcoleta, if this is true).”
The video was first published on July 28 by local radio station Radyo Pilipinas Butuan. The original clip shows Escudero getting 19 votes in the election when the Senate convened the first regular session of the 20th Congress.
The official website of the Senate shows that Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III remains Senate president.
He replaced Escudero on Sept. 8 after Sen. Miguel Zubiri declared the position vacant amid controversies on flood control projects and Vice President Sara Duterte’s unsuccessful impeachment trial.
Uploaded by Thata Babaeng Bisaya (created April 13, 2007), the erroneous video has so far garnered 16,000 views, 69 reactions, 91 comments and 28 shares.
Editor’s note: This fact check was produced with the help of a journalism student of the University of Santo Tomas as part of their internship at VERA Files.
