A quote attributed to Senator Christopher “Bong” Go describing supporters of Vice President Leni Robredo as “rich” and “elitists” is fake.
The quote card, shared by a few Facebook pages on Nov 20 and 21, read: “Kung elitista’t mayaman ka, KAKAMPINK [supporter of Robredo] ka. Kung mahirap kang atat sa tunay na pagbabago, kasangga mo ako. Tapat na serbisyo ko ang kailangan mo. Kitakits sa 2022! (If you’re elitist and rich, you’re KAKAMPINK [supporter of Robredo]. If you’re poor and in a hurry for real change, I’m your guy. What you need is my honest service. See you in 2022!)”
Go and Robredo, who is associated with the color pink, are both running for president in the May 2022 elections.
The fake graphic carried what looks like a seal of the upper house of Congress with the words ‘Senate of the Philippines’ on the bottom right corner. It had a photo of Go with President Rodrigo Duterte, as well as shots of the senator interacting with his supporters.
A cursory search on the Web yielded no official interview or legitimate news report showing that Go made the statement. There was nothing on the senator’s official social media pages that resembled the quote.
The fabricated quote card circulated a few days after Go presented the overview of his first 100 days as president during the 47th Philippine Business Conference and Expo held by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce (PCCI).
The FB pages that posted the fake quote include Fight for Digong (created on Nov. 28, 2016), Pilipinas (Jan. 14, 2019) and Shut Up (Dec. 1, 2018). Their posts have garnered a combined total of more than 11,600 reactions, 4,600 comments and 230 shares.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
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