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FACT CHECK News PHL Vote 2022

VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Former PCOO social media consultant, netizens revive ‘dextrose’ photo of Isko Moreno that needs context

An old photo of Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso working while hooked up to a bag of fluids was revived this week by several Facebook (FB) accounts, including the FB page of a lawyer who had worked as a social media consultant for the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO). It needs context.

The photo was captured in 2019, a day after Moreno underwent a medical procedure. Several people who saw the recent posts commented that the mayor was merely sweetening his image in time for the 2022 national elections.

STATEMENT

On June 7, FB page Luminous by Trixie Cruz-Angeles & Ahmed Paglinawan, managed by lawyers Trixie Cruz-Angeles and Ahmed Paglinawan, shared a photo of Moreno signing documents in an office while a staffer held an intravenous (IV) drip connected to the local chief executive’s hand.

The FB page’s caption asked:

Ano yan, Yorme? Nagpa gluta ka? #Nagtatanonglangkayonaman (What’s that, Mayor? Did you have a glutathione drip? #Justaskingyouguys)?”

Source: Luminous by Trixie Cruz-Angeles & Ahmed Paglinawan Facebook page, Ano yan, Yorme? Nagpa gluta ka? (Archived), June 7, 2021

Cruz-Angeles hosts the radio show Karambola on DWIZ 882 AM. She was suspended as a lawyer by the Supreme Court for three years back in 2016. In a 2017 Senate hearing on “fake news,” she said she was a “social media strategist” for then PCOO assistant secretary Margaux “Mocha” Uson.

On June 6, a social media user in FB group RUN SARA RUN for PRESIDENT and the FB page Alon Calinao Dy posted the same photo, mocking Moreno for being “an absolutely (sic) fakery model” and for “pretending to work even while hooked to a dextrose.” FB page D Express followed suit the next day, saying “a lot of people were fooled by the gimmick.”

Thinking the photo was recent, an FB user in the comments section on Luminous by Trixie Cruz-Angeles & Ahmed Paglinawan’s post said: “The elections are approaching, so [the mayor] has lots of tricks in politicking.” A top comment on D Express’ post asked why “a lot of nut cases and overacting politicians emerge when elections are near.”

The post by Luminous by Trixie Cruz-Angeles & Ahmed Paglinawan got more than 15,000 FB interactions, including 438 shares, as of publication, while the RUN SARA RUN for PRESIDENT FB post received over 3,900 interactions. Re-uploads by FB pages D Express and Alon Calinao Dy got about 6,400 FB interactions combined.

FACT

The circulating image needs context. The official FB account of the Manila Public Information Office posted Moreno’s image with the IV dextrose bottle on Aug. 14, 2019.

Its caption stated it was taken the night before by hospital staff, as the mayor continued working after undergoing dental surgery earlier that day.

In his official FB account, Moreno posted a live video of him on Aug. 13, 2019 undergoing a dental operation at a local clinic.

Netizens on Twitter and Facebook bashed the former celebrity after the dextrose photo was posted in 2019, saying he was “over-acting” and that his public relations staff pushed his exposure too far.

The image that needs context emerged after Moreno said in a June 4 ANC interview that he is “definitely running” for the 2022 elections but did not specify for what position.

Cruz-Angeles and her FB page Luminous by Trixie Cruz-Angeles & Ahmed Paglinawan have a history of making misleading claims. (See: VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Palace social media consultant makes misleading claims on Senate probe into ex-Comelec chair Bautista; VERA FILES FACT CHECK: FB page MISLEADS with 2019 news on ROTC House bill; VERA FILES FACT CHECK: PH didn’t ‘handpick’ entire panel in South China Sea arbitration case)

 

Sources

Luminous by Trixie Cruz-Angeles & Ahmed Paglinawan Facebook page, Ano yan, Yorme? Nagpa gluta ka? (Archived), June 7, 2021

DWIZ 882 Facebook page, KARAMBOLA sa DWIZ, June 10, 2021

Office of the Court Administrator, OCA Circular No. 220-2018, Accessed June 9, 2021

Rappler, SC slaps 3-year suspension on lawyer Trixie Cruz-Angeles, Aug. 9, 2016

Manila Public Information Office Facebook Page, LAST NIGHT: Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso continues to work even after undergoing dental surgery…, Aug. 14, 2019

Isko Moreno Domagoso official Facebook page, With Dr. Albert Espiritu of EOIC Dental in Manila , wala ng choice kailangan ng gamutin!, Aug. 13, 2019

Twitter Advanced Search, (isko) AND (swero OR OA OR dextrose OR swero) -iskonek until:2019-08-20 since:2019-08-13, Accessed June 9, 2021

Radio Mindanao Network, Litrato ni Mayor Isko na naka-dextrose habang nagtratrabaho, pinuna ng netizens, Aug. 16, 2019

Isko Moreno Domagoso official Facebook page, LIVE: Conferment of ISO to Justice Jose Abad Santos General Hospital …, Aug. 20, 2019

ABS-CBN News Twitter account, Moreno tells doctors in jest…, Aug. 20, 2019

ANC 24/7 YouTube channel, Isko Moreno says ‘definitely running’ in 2022 | ANC, June 4, 2021

 

(Guided by the code of principles of the International Fact-Checking Network at Poynter, VERA Files tracks the false claims, flip-flops, misleading statements of public officials and figures, and debunks them with factual evidence. Find out more about this initiative and our methodology.)