An impostor of GMA’s entertainment news website published a report that bore the misleading headline, “BREAKING! COCO MARTIN GUSTO PAPALITAN LAHAT NG NASA GOBYERNO (Coco Martin wants everyone in government replaced),” insinuating that the actor is referring to members of the Duterte administration. This is false.
The Ang Probinsyano actor made this comment nearly five years ago, when Rodrigo Duterte was still mayor of Davao City. He was elected president in May 2016.
Speaking in an August 2015 press conference for his TV action-drama, Martin was asked about his views on the upcoming May 2016 national elections. He said: “Gusto ko ng pagbabago. Kung maaari, gusto ko sana lahat bago kasi para magkaroon tayo ng bagong lipunan. Kung ilalagay rin natin yung mga taong yan sa posisyon na iyon, uulit lang nang uulit yan (I want change. If possible, I want all [elected politicians] to be new so we can have a new society. If we just put the same people in their positions, it will just be the same over and over again).
The June 3 story by website Raffy Tulfo (gmaentertainment.org) featured as its content a compilation of Martin’s photos and those of Duterte with his Cabinet and a few legislators while a man’s voice narrated the actor’s stand on political issues. Its headline manipulated the context of his comments. The same content was uploaded on the same day by YouTube channel Showbiz Headliners.
The thumbnail of gmaentertainment.org’s and Showbiz Headliners’ posts further proved its duplicitous nature, splicing together a MYX photo of Martin and a September 2016 image of Duterte alongside his delegation and some overseas Filipinos in Vietnam.
Showbiz Headliners’ script was taken from a June 2 story by entertainment website Pep.ph titled, “Remember when Coco Martin asked: ‘Bakit kami natatakot sa gobyerno? (Why are we afraid of the government?)’ ” and quoted some parts word for word while others were paraphrased.
The misleading post surfaced two days after Solicitor General Jose Calida responded to Martin’s outburst about his hand in the shutting down of the actor’s home network, ABS-CBN. Calida filed in February a quo warranto plea to revoke the legislative franchise of ABS-CBN before its May 4 expiration.
The misleading video on gmaentertainment.org, which uploaded its first story just last Feb. 29, could have reached over 36,000 netizens.
The top traffic generators to gmaentertainment.org’s misleading post on Facebook are pages Pinoy Trending, Trending Viral PH, and Filipino Opinión.
Showbiz Headliners’ video on YouTube has been viewed over 8,000 times and could have reached over 50,000 people on Facebook. The Youtube channel was created on Feb. 7, 2019.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)