A YouTube channel that frequently publishes disinformation is now making the claim that a disqualification case filed against presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos was junked by the Commission on Elections (Comelec). This is false.
There are currently three petitions filed contesting Marcos’ candidacy, none of which has been resolved by the Comelec.
The erroneous video was posted on Nov. 16 by YouTube channel Showbiz Fanaticz with the title: “JUST IN: DILAWAN, KUMPIRMADONG BIGONG MAPA-DISQUALIFY si BONGBONG MARCOS| KAMPO ni ROBREDO NANLUMO (Yellows, confirmed to have failed in disqualifying Bongbong Marcos | Robredo camp disheartened)!”
On Nov. 2, a group of civil society leaders filed a petition seeking to void Marcos’ certificate of candidacy over his conviction in a 1995 tax evasion case. Six days later, another group filed a similar petition. And on Nov. 17, a group of martial law victims filed a case seeking to disqualify the former senator from running in the upcoming elections, and cancel his candidacy.
The first case has been raffled off to the Comelec’s Second Division, which gave the Marcos camp until Nov. 22 to file its response. The body is expected to hear the petition on Nov. 26.
In the erroneous eight-minute video, a narrator repeatedly said that veteran lawyers “confirmed” that the petitions against Marcos could be immediately dismissed by the election body for lack of evidence. It made no mention of who these lawyers were, and instead read a few paragraphs from an article by the Manila Times about the Nov. 2 petition, and a comment by a netizen on social media.
The false YouTube video, which has over 105,000 views, emerged the same day Marcos asserted there was no legal basis for his disqualification.
It was also published on the blog Global Balita PH which, according to social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle, has garnered 6,200 interactions and could have reached 1.3 million netizens. Its top traffic generators were the FB groups Rodante Marcoleta for Senator, Boying Remulla for Senator Movement, and Mike Defensor For Senator Movement.
The YouTube channel, created in November 2017, also released last week a similar false claim related to the Marcos petitions.
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