Multiple Facebook (FB) pages continue to share a quote card already denounced as fake, where Ilocos Norte 1st District Rep. Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos asked people to use a more inexpensive type of onion.
Posted from Nov. 25 to 26, the fake quote cards appeared three days after prices of red onions reached P300 in Marikina, Zamboanga, and Aklan, where Marcos was quoted as saying:
“Why the big fuss about the prices of red onions? Common sense dictates that you use white onions when red onions are expensive and alternatively, use red onions when white onions are expensive. Simple problems need simple solutions.”
“More fake news, never said this or gave any interview,” Marcos said in a Nov. 26 Instagram story. Multiple news organizations reported this.
On the same day, Sonshine Media News Inc. (SMNI) also issued a statement that strongly condemned the unauthorized and malicious use of its logo in the fake quote card.
The post is an altered version of a quote card published by Inquirer.net on Oct. 11, where Marcos said that the Philippine peso is weak because the U.S. dollar is strong.
The fake news graphic cropped out the name and social media handles of Inquirer.net. Its blue quote background was replaced with red – the color used in SMNI’s branding.
Liberal Party Secretary-General Teddy Baguilat and GMA Network resident analyst Richard Heydarian posted the fake quote card, originally thinking it was true.
After Marcos called the graphic fake, Baguilat removed his tweet and apologized, while Heydarian edited his Facebook post’s caption to say: “This is FAKE NEWS! (Edited).”
FB pages Publiko (created on March 1, 2021), Naloko Na (created on April 15) and a netizen shared the quote card, garnering a total of 802 interactions.
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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.)
