A claim that the Iglesia ni Cristo has endorsed the alleged tandem of Vice President Sara Duterte, who has officially declared her plan to run for president, and Sen. Rodante Marcoleta for the 2028 national elections is circulating online. This is not true.
As of writing, the only group that has thrown its support for a Sara-Marcoleta tandem is the political party Partido Reporma.
An unverified “news” website with the domain name newsletter.weeknews247.com published an article on March 4 with a headline that reads:
“SA WAKAS! I GLESIA NI CRISTO ginulat ang lahat! SARA DUTERTE RODANTE MARCOLETA sa 2028!
(At last! The Iglesia ni Cristo shocked everyone! Sara Duterte and Rodante Marcoleta for 2028!)”
On the same day, a YouTube account posted a two-minute and nine-second clip with a similar title and text on its thumbnail, claiming that the INC had formally endorsed Duterte and Marcoleta for the upcoming polls. The voiceover narration in the video repeated several lines from the unverified website’s article, with some parts paraphrased.
The YouTube thumbnail with the false claim was republished by two FB pages and two users on March 5 and 6.
On March 6, two other FB pages posted a composite photo that featured an old thumbnail from a YouTube video uploaded on Oct. 20, 2024 and carried identical captions taken from another spurious website with the domain name newj.goodstorie.info, which contained the same March 4 article. It states:
“SA WAKAS!I IGLESIA NI CRISTO ginulat ang lahat! Inindorso na SARA DUTERTE RODANTE MARCOLETA sa 2028!
Nagliab (sic) ang balita sa buong bansa. Nagulantang ang publiko. At sa gitna ng ingay ng pulitika, isang pangalan ang biglang namutawi: Sarah Duterte. Kasama niya sa entablado ng posibilidad si Senator Rodante Marcoleta—ang tandem na ngayon ay inendorso ng isa sa pinakamalaking religious organization sa bansa, ang Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), para sa darating na 2028 National Elections. Detalye sa Mga Komento
(FINALLY! The Iglesia ni Cristo shocks everyone as it endorses SARA DUTERTE-RODANTE MARCOLETA for 2028!
The news spread like wildfire across the country. The public was stunned. Amid the political noise, one name suddenly emerged: Sara Duterte. Alongside her on the stage of possibilities is Senator Rodante Marcoleta—a tandem now endorsed by one of the country’s largest religious organizations, the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), for the upcoming 2028 national elections. Details in the comment section.)”
The two FB pages showed signs of coordinated and inauthentic behavior like profile pictures with the exact text “PINOY CELEB ZONE.” They published the false claim within a 12-hour window, between 2 a.m. and 2 p.m. on March 6.
Over the next couple of days, another four users reposted the same composite photo and caption, including one viral post that only used the first line.
An endorsement like this from INC, known for its influence in elections due to its practice of bloc voting, would have received widespread media coverage. However, a keyword search on Google yielded no credible news reports or public record substantiating the claim.
Some red flags
Both articles posted on unverified websites contained textual errors, referring to the vice president as “Sarah” Duterte and the INC spokesperson as “Edwell Sabala” instead of Edwil Zabala, who was cited as the source of the information on the supposed endorsement.
A statement by Zabala was published by NET 25 on Feb. 27, where he aired the church’s call for the government to address what it described as “widespread corruption” and alleged misuse of government funds. Nowhere in the video statement did the INC spokesperson mention endorsing the “Sara-Marcoleta” tandem for the 2028 polls.
A closer inspection of the article reveals that some paragraphs seem to be a translated and modified version of actual statements made by former House speaker and Partido Reporma chairman Pantaleon Alvarez on the party’s support for Duterte’s presidential bid and endorsement of Marcoleta as her potential running mate, as reported by GMA Integrated News on Feb. 20.
While Duterte said she had “recruited” her running mate last year, she declined to name the person in a Feb. 21 interview on SMNI.
The online posts and articles with the false claim surfaced more than a week after Partido Reporma floated the idea of a Sara-Marcoleta tandem for 2028.
Circulated by several accounts, including FB pages Legends of PINOY Showbiz (July 14, 2025), John Henry (Feb. 6, 2024) Anna Media (created on Oct. 5, 2017 as Judy Ann Santos) and Ricky Mendez Daposala (Feb. 25, 2015), the false posts have collectively amassed 67,955 reactions; 20,277 comments; and 2,958 shares as of writing. Notably, all four pages are managed by people abroad, with the first three located in Vietnam.
