A graphics card circulating on Facebook claims that former Philippine National Police chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III blames Vice President Sara Duterte and other government officials for the recent massive flooding in Cebu City due to Typhoon Tino (International name: Kalmaegi). This is fake.
There are no credible sources or reports confirming that Torre made such a statement. In a Facebook post, the former PNP chief debunked the claim and described it as completely fake.
On Nov. 6, a Facebook fan page of Kitty Duterte, the youngest daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, uploaded a graphic card bearing a photo of Torre. The now-deleted photo contains text that read:
“REP. NICOLAS TORRE GUSTONG PANAGUTIN SI VP SARA AT IBA PANG OPISYAL NG GOBYERNO SA PAGKA-BAHA SA CEBU CITY
Isinisisi ni Rep. Nicolas Torre sina VP Sara ‘Inday’ Duterte at iba pang Opisyal ng Gobyerno sa trahedyang nagdulot ng pagkabaha sa Cebu City dahil sa bagyong Tino
(REP. NICOLAS TORRE WANTS TO HOLD VP SARA AND OTHER GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE FLOODING IN CEBU CITY
Rep. Nicolas Torre blames VP Sara ‘Inday’ Duterte and other government officials for the tragedy that caused flooding in Cebu City due to Typhoon Tino).”
First, Torre is not and has never been a representative in Congress. Second, an advanced keyword search on Google shows no credible sources or news reports about the statement attributed to him. Instead, only variations of Facebook and Instagram posts that have copy-pasted and shared the fake text appear.
Clicking the post redirects users to a product page on an e-commerce site, a common social media tactic to boost product engagements.
On Nov 6., Torre shared the malicious post on his official Facebook page and labeled it as fake.
“The post claiming that I blamed VP Sara Duterte and other officials for the flooding in Cebu is 100% FAKE NEWS and MALICIOUS PROPAGANDA,” Torre wrote, adding that only the gullible will believe it without checking the facts.
He also warned against purveyors of fake information and urged the public to verify information before sharing.
The fake post emerged after Typhoon Tino struck parts of the Visayas region, resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries. Reports show that Cebu province recorded 141 fatalities, 57 missing, and 123 injured as of Nov. 8.
As of writing, a copy of the post shared by the FB page Byaheng HARI (created July 10, 2021), has so far garnered 724 reactions, 714 comments, and 29 shares. An earlier post uploaded by a Kitty Duterte FB fan page, which is now deleted, has gained much higher engagement.
