A quote card claims that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in his 2026 State of the Nation Address, asked who Rene Clert Baterbonia was and what he did for the country. The circulating quote is fake.
On July 28, Facebook users started sharing a screenshot from RTVMalacañang’s livestream showing Marcos delivering his speech before a joint session of the 20th Congress. The image bore the text:
“Sino ba ‘yang Rene Baterbonia na ‘yan? Ano ba ginawa nyan sa Pilipinas (Who is that Rene Baterbonia? What did he do for the Philippines)?”
In the comment sections, several netizens criticized the president for supposedly dismissing the late student-athlete who drowned in a training camp in Aurora province last June.
This statement is fabricated. Marcos did not mention Baterbonia in his SONA and Malacañang had extended sympathy to his family following the tragic incident.
While the president highlighted the importance of sports and Filipino athletes such as Alex Eala and the Filipinas women’s football team in this year’s SONA, he never mentioned Baterbonia or the June 8 drowning incident during a team-building activity in Dipaculao, Aurora.
Last month, Malacañang offered its condolences to the victims’ families and called for a probe into the matter.
Investigations surrounding the death of Baterbonia and fellow Ateneo Blue Eagle athlete Chukwuemeka Divine Adili are ongoing. The National Bureau of Investigation has recommended the filing of homicide charges against Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin and 11 others over the athletes’ deaths.
VERA Files has debunked other false claims related to Baterbonia.
The fake quote card circulated a day after Marcos’ fifth SONA in which he defended the 2016 arbitral award over the West Philippine Sea and vowed that even his relatives and political allies will not be spared in his anti-corruption drive.
Posts by four FB users collectively garnered 1,238 reactions, 1,000 comments and 150 shares as of writing.
