A netizen and several Facebook (FB) pages continued to circulate an already debunked fabricated statement attributed to Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo.
Recently relieved as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Illegal Drugs (ICAD), Robredo was portrayed as wanting to ban police officers from carrying guns during anti-illegal drug operations.
On Nov. 13, photos of three policemen carrying a samurai, bolo and slingshot were uploaded by FB pages Sonaj Gurthama, RIDES KA TOL, Bangon Pagadian, 911 Philippines Supporters, and a netizen. The posts were captioned that these weapons should be the alternatives to guns:
“Dahil sa bagong drug war Utos ni madam VP Leni Dapat walang dalang Baril ang mga Pulis pag my raid, ito na bagong sandata ng ating kapulisan… (Because of the new drug war, Madam VP Leni banned the policefrom carrying guns during raids, so these are the new weapons of our police force)…
…Yung may drug operation pero bawal na gumamit ng baril (Where there is a drug operation but you cannot use a gun)……BAWAL ANG BARIL SA DRUG RAID OPERATIONS – VP LENI LUGAW ROBREDOKay gibawal man sa ato ang Bise Presidenti ang Pusil panahon sa Drug Raid Operations, nangita ug alternatibo nga pama-agi aron maka sukol ang atoang mga kapulisan (Guns are banned from drug raid operations – VP Leni Lugaw Robredo. Because the vice president has prohibited guns during drug raid operations, they should find alternative ways for our policemen to fight back)…
…Di lng gihapon ta kumpyansa, gamiton nto ato inisyatib kung mag drug operation (If you still don’t have the confidence, let’s use this as an initiative if there’s drug operation) okeeeeyyy keeeyyooooww!!”
The image of the policeman with a red slingshot can be traced to a Nov. 12 netizen post captioned as “Amu na lng Ni ang gamiton sa DRUG Operation (I’ll just use this during drug operations). The two other photos of a Senior Police Officer 2 carrying a samurai and a police with a bolo could not be traced.
These posts have garnered a combined total of over 10,000 interactions, nearly 2,500 comments and have been shared more than 41,000 times on social media.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
