Palace Spokesperson Harry Roque claimed without evidence that Jose Maria “Joma” Sison, founding chairperson of the Communist Party of the Philippines, was among those who submitted a communication to the International Criminal Court (ICC) regarding the killings in President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.
The Philippine News Agency (PNA), a state-run newswire service, reported that the Philippines ranked 2nd in Southeast Asia in terms of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination rollout. Its basis was a comparison of the number of vaccines administered per country in the region.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque twisted Vice President Leni Robredo’s positive reaction to a senator’s proposal for her to appear with President Rodrigo Duterte in an informative commercial (infomercial) to help boost public confidence in the vaccine against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
As the Philippine government continues to roll out coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines to its target of 70 million people, anti-vaccine advocates shared a social media post in May wrongly claiming COVID-19 vaccines contain fetal tissue.
Shifting gears in just two days, President Rodrigo Duterte backed out from his challenge to debate with retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio about the withdrawal of Philippine Navy ships during the 2012 maritime standoff at Scarborough Shoal between China and the Philippines, as well as the latter's 2016 win at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).
In reiterating his stance on avoiding “trouble” with China, President Rodrigo Duterte called the Philippines’ historic arbitral win in 2016 against the Asian giant on the South China Sea dispute as “just a [piece of] paper” that he would “throw into the wastebasket,” in a televised address on May 5.
Contrary to Roque’s claim, Locsin said he apologized only to his “friend” and counterpart, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and “nobody else.”
President Rodrigo Duterte claimed that he “never mentioned” anything about the dispute between China and the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea during his campaign for the 2016 presidential election. This is not true.
A VERA Files Fact Check reader wants to know why National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) Director General Alex Paul Monteagudo and several other Facebook users share wrong information that can be easily verified.
Drawing inspiration from the community pantry on Maginhawa St. in Quezon City put up by 26-year-old Ana Patricia Non on April 14, more than 300 similar food stalls have sprouted across the country in less than a week. However, the top three executives of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and some security officials gave confusing and contradicting statements on what to do with the charity initiative.
