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FACT CHECK News

Netizens mistake SATIRICAL piece on VP Robredo as TRUE

A May 7 Adobo Chronicles satirical article that spoofed Vice President and opposition leader Leni Robredo as saying she will resign should all Otso Diretso bets lose the midterm elections has gone viral.

Screengrabs of the Adobo Chronicles article and several manufactured quote cards bore this invented quote, lampooning Robredo:

“She is promising to vacate her position as Vice President if none of the Otso Diretso Senatorial candidates makes it to the top 12 in Monday’s Philippine midterm elections.”

Netizens sharing the article or quote cards on Facebook are mistaking the statement as true.

Adobo Chronicles is a website created in 2013 that produces satirical news pieces. In its About page, it says “Everything you read on this site is based on fact, except for the lies.”

It revised its format in recent years with the increase in disinformation going around the Internet. To “distinguish fact from fiction,” the website says italicized statements “represent the facts” while “the rest are fiction.” The statement about Robredo’s resignation is classified as fiction.

The Adobo Chronicles article has been reposted by at least 24 Facebook pages and could have reached 1.1 million followers.

(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)

(VERA Files is a part of Tsek.ph, a collaborative fact-checking initiative by the academe and the media for the 2019 Philippine midterm elections.)