A Facebook page posted a fabricated front page of the Manila Bulletin (MB) that shows a headline about the Sandiganbayan ordering the arrest of Camarines Sur 2nd District Rep. Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte Jr. for an P800 million graft and corruption case.
“Sandiganbayan suspends LRay Villafuerte over 800 million graft,” the headline of the bogus newspaper page dated Sept. 22, 2023 claimed. Cursory search shows that in 2016, the Sandiganbayan did order a 90-day suspension of Villafuerte who was indicted for graft.
“The Manila Bulletin never published a story on the alleged arrest of LRay Villafuerte over an P800-million graft and corruption case. The [front page] is not a document done by Manila Bulletin,” Vicente Edgardo “Ed” Bartilad, MB executive editor, told VERA Files Fact Check in an Oct. 2 email.
The original Manila Bulletin front page dated Sept. 22, 2023 actually carried a different banner story with the headline “Marcos gets tough on economic saboteurs.”
The fake graphic used a font style and size different from the original.
“FAKE NEWS ALERT. Sobra desperado na talaga and pabibo at kulang sa pansin ang isang Tao na nag papalabas ng fake news na Meron daw ako kaso using the MANILA BULLETIN logo and headline,” Villafuerte said in a Sept. 25 Facebook (FB) post.
(The person releasing fake news using the Manila Bulletin logo and headline about my alleged case is very desperate, an attention-seeker and a show-off.)
The fake post by FB page Province of Camarines Sur garnered a total of 626 reactions, 191 comments, and 296 shares. Villafuerte claims the post appeared a day after criminal and administrative charges were filed against San Fernando, Camarines Sur Mayor Fermin M. Mabulo and five barangay chairpersons for illegal quarrying.
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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.)