A statement attributed to Sen. Risa Hontiveros is going viral online, claiming she called the youth who died during a Jan. 1 clash between the military and the New People’s Army (NPA) in Occidental Mindoro a “real hero.” This is fake.
Hontiveros has debunked the claim on her official Facebook page. No credible reports confirm that the Senate deputy majority leader made such a remark, based on a keyword search on Google.
Originally published by an FB page on Jan. 4, the fake quote card bore a picture of Hontiveros along with her supposed statement that read:
“ANG TUNAY NA BAYANI AY ANG MGA NAMATAY NA KABATAAN SA MINDORO HINDI ANG SUNDALO. DAHIL SILA ANG NAKIKIBAKA SA KABATAAN PARA PUMUNTA SA BUNDOK
(The real heroes are the young people who died in Mindoro, not the soldiers because they are the ones who struggle with the youth to go to the mountains.)”
Other users and pages republished the graphic with untrue claims from Jan. 5 to 6, including former broadcaster Jay Sonza, whose previous claims have been repeatedly fact-checked by VERA Files.
In a Jan. 8 FB post, the senator labeled the quote card “fake news,” urging the public not to believe “the lies being circulated.”
Some red flags
The bogus quote card has several red flags, including the lack of citations from verifiable sources and the reference to Hontiveros as a “representative.”
A reverse image search shows that the photo of Hontiveros used in the Jan. 4 fabricated quote card was taken from her old interview on journalist Christian Esguerra’s podcast published on Aug. 5, 2025.
Another version of the graphic, posted on Jan. 6, used Hontiveros’ picture taken during the June 26, 2024 legislative inquiry on convicted former Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo’s alleged links with Philippine offshore gaming operators.
PLM student slain in AFP-NPA clash
The fabricated quote card surfaced three days after what the Armed Forces of the Philippines described as “a legitimate intelligence-driven mission against communist terrorist group leaders” in Occidental Mindoro, which resulted in the death of a Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila student.
On the other hand, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines confirmed the death of Jerlyn Rose Doydora, Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education Major in English from PLM, who “succumbed to an illness during the period of intensified aerial bombardment and ground assaults in the area.”
Doydora “was among the youth who expressed the desire to interview the indigenous people and farmers in Mindoro and the [NPA] Red fighters,” the NDF-Mindoro said in a separate statement.
The post by FB user Para Sa Pilipino (created on Oct. 5, 2025) has so far garnered 5,100 reactions, 3,100 comments and 237 shares. Other copies of the fake graphic reposted by user Jay Sonza (Sept. 22, 2009) and page Yongnem ph (created on Oct. 20, 2024 as sajangnim ph) have collectively received 25,800 reactions, 9,219 comments and 1,216 shares as of writing.
