“We shall go down in history as the greatest statesmen of all time, or as the greatest criminals.”
With that statement, Hitler’s propagandist Joseph Goebbels ended his life and that of his wife Magda’s after killing all their children with cyanide shots. But if he were alive today, Goebbels would be immensely delighted with the Duterte Diehard Supporters.
DDS are today’s masters of spreading lies and making them endure in the public imagination as widely held beliefs no matter the evidence for their falsities. Their crime is lying in all its forms: deception, fraud, perjury and defamation.
With defamation, they are tops. Bangag is now a favorite word in Philippine social media even as it doesn’t apply to the Duterte children. Fake news is their deception that Paolo Duterte had P51 billion in pork barrel when his father was president, even if the Department of Public Works and Highways had admitted that Paolo was allocated that humongous amount in the last three years of his father’s administration.
Add of course: Rodrigo Duterte was kidnapped and flown to The Hague.
But for Risa Hontiveros, DDS have made her suffer the notoriety of having partook of the fund scandals in Philhealth. The DDS lines are sure of that:
“Risa Hontiveros is liable for the anomalies in Philhealth when she greenlit multi-billion peso bonus and fund scandals in 2010 and 2013-2014.” (Jay Sonza)
“Nagnakaw yan sa Philhealth. Dilawan at Pinklawan kasi, kaya magnanakaw talaga.” (Pruna Gem)
“Malaki nakurakot nyan si Risa, kaya transfer nya ang focus sa iba tulad ng Malasakit Center.” (Jhunmert Dinopol Goc-ong)
Independent media and political analysts, however, see a pattern – these debunked allegations resurface whenever Hontiveros leads high-profile Senate investigations that bear on the Duterte family.
So what is the truth?
The most comprehensive fact check ever done on the issue was made by Vera Files.
Online blogs and videos began to surface in 2018. Vera Files responded with its fact-checking that same year.
At least two websites, phnewspride.blogspot.com and thedailysentry.net published the following headlines:
“For the 3rd Time, COA Orders Hontiveros to return P160M Philhealth Money”
“Lawyers urged Hontiveros to return P1.7B illegal bonuses of Philhealth during her term”
“International Lawyer demands Hontiveros to explain Philhealth P1.7B illegal bonuses”
It was a concerted effort. At the time of these publications, former broadcaster Sonza added his own lie. The embellishment was complete:
“Sen. Risa Hontiveros, nakikiusap po ang COA sa inyo madam…. Kaunting hiya naman po madam (Sen. Risa Hontiveros, COA is pleading with you, madame… Have some shame, madame…).”
The facts as checked by Vera Files:
In decision nos. 2018-169 and 2018-170, COA affirmed the notices of disallowance (NDs) it issued PhilHealth in 2011 and 2015, after finding out the bonuses released in years prior lacked approval from the Office of the President.
State auditors deemed “unauthorized” the release of:
P80,790,075.02 worth of Christmas packages, anniversary gifts and performance incentive bonuses given out in 2009 and 2010.
P83,062,385.27 in educational assistance allowances and birthday gifts in 2014.
COA also ordered liable officials to return the releases, totaling P163.85 million, not P1.76 billion as two of the false reports claim. COA reached its decisions on the cases on Jan. 29, but only released the copies to the media on Aug. 2.
PhilHealth itself, however, said Hontiveros was not among the officials named in the COA decisions. In an email to VERA Files, Philhealth corporate communications manager said:
“Former Board Member and now Senator Risa Hontiveros is not included in the subject Notice of Disallowance (ND).”
Source: Rey Baleña, email to Vera Files
Other publications had also fact-checked that Hontiveros was not included by the Supreme Court on the Philhealth fund mess.
Another crucial finding: the named bonuses were approved BEFORE Hontiveros was appointed as member of the board of Philhealth.
Hontiveros was inducted as a trustee of Philhealth on November 2014, serving in that capacity for only eleven months until October 2015.
Who is mightily angry at Risa Hontiveros? Those who are upset that she is doing something good in the Senate. Something good that erodes the myth and lies about the Dutertes.
(The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.)
