A satirical Facebook (FB) post misled netizens into believing the camp of outgoing Vice President Leni Robredo filed her Statement of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE) using transparent ink.
On June 10, satire FB page Philippine Daily New Society (created on May 13, 2022) published a post about the Robredo camp allegedly filling out her SOCE using a pen with clear ink.
The post came with a quote supposedly from the vice president: “Para sa akin, kailangan iyong transparency. Kailangan iyong transparency para lahat alam ng tao. Kaya iyong ginamit namin na mekanismo ay iyong ballpen, iyong tinta, ay transparent. Iyong transparent ink ang pinangsulat namin sa SOCE ko.
(For me, transparency is necessary. Transparency is needed so that all people know. That’s why the mechanism we used is a ballpen whose ink is transparent. We used transparent ink to fill out the SOCE).
The graphic is clearly labeled “Satire Only,” and with a tagline of “NEWS YOU CAN’T TRUST” printed at the bottom. In its About page, Philippine Daily New Society said the page “is for satire, parody, and entertainment purposes only” and not a source of accurate information.
There is no record of any speech, transcript or legitimate news reports mentioning the so-called statement of Robredo.
Still, most of the comments from netizens showed they believed the satire was true and ridiculed Robredo for her “nonsensical” statement, saying she is “out of her wits” again and that it is “good” she did not win in the May 9 polls.
Robredo submitted on June 7 her SOCE to the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which has yet to release copies of the electoral candidates’ SOCEs to the media.
The satirical post appeared a couple of days after a GMA News report mentioned that the staff of vice presidential candidate Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Robredo’s running mate, refused to disclose the amount his camp spent for the campaign. The senator has also submitted his SOCE to the Comelec.
Aside from Philippine Daily New Society, FB page BBM solid supporter (created Aug. 26, 2019) reposted the satirical graphic, and their posts collectively garnered more than 1,100 reactions, 320 comments and 320 shares. FB page TapWan (Oct. 21, 2021) and FB group The 31 Million Movement (May 15, 2022) shared the satire post and got more than 4,100 reactions, 1,600 comments and 200 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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