At least three Facebook posts used a video clip of Sen. Risa Hontiveros saying she will “defy the Constitution.” This is misleading. The clip was extracted from her June 9 media conference where she emphasized the opposite.
Posted as early as June 21, the reels contain a 5-second clip of Hontiveros saying:
“Susuwayin namin ang Konstitusyon, kami pa Senado (We will defy the Constitution, we in the Senate)”
The footage included overlaid text that read:
“SUSOWAYIN NAMIN ANG CONSTITUTION!!!
Tapang Mo PhilHealth Queen (We will defy the Constitution!!! You are brave PhilHealth Queen)”
The trimmed clip came from a June 9 Senate media conference where Hontiveros spoke about the ongoing impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
In the original video, the senator was asked if convening the impeachment court is optional. She replied:
“Oh, definitely not, definitely not. Kapag ang maging pananaw namin at ugali namin ay optional lang ‘yung pag-convene bilang impeachment court… susuwayin namin ang Konstitusyon, kami pa na Senado, at ‘yun ‘yung sinabi ko kanina, na hindi kami papayag sa minority, hindi ako papayag bilang senador na kami pa, ang Senado, ang susuway sa Konstitusyon (If our perspective and our attitude is that convening the impeachment court is optional… we will defy the Constitution, we as the Senate, and that’s what I said earlier, that we in the minority will not allow, as a senator I will not allow, that the Senate will defy the Constitution).”
Hontiveros was one of five senators who voted on June 10 against a motion to return the Articles of Impeachment to the House of Representatives.
Two of the videos circulated on June 23, hours after Duterte’s lawyers submitted an answer ad cautelam to the impeachment court.
As of writing, the Facebook reels have collectively garnered over 1.3 million views, 5,300 shares and 4,000 comments.
