Website newsbite.top published May 13 a fabricated story claiming the Liberal Party will file quo warranto petitions against the whole Cabinet of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The fake news, which could have reached more than 2.3 million people, deliberately takes out of context a clip from a May 11 Facebook Live video by political analyst Antonio Contreras, who made no such claim. Contreras was actually calling out netizens – “especially… teachers, professors, writers, journalists, and worse, lawyers” – allegedly saying that quo warranto petitions should be filed “against all government officials”.
The video which the story carried was uploaded by Youtube channel TOKHANG TV, which first draws out the last eight minutes of Contreras’ video, then edits the rest of the 32-minute monologue.
The fake news story was published two days after the Supreme Court ousted Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno for failing to submit financial statements when she applied for the top post in 2012. The SC, in a vote of 8-6, granted the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida. A quo warranto petition challenges the right and legality of a public official’s holding of office, according to Rule 66 of the Rules of Court.
Newsbite.top was created May 9; TOKHANG TV in Nov. 2016. The story’s biggest traffic generators on social media are President Rody Duterte -Federal Movement International Marcos Loyalist and We Support Duterte Administration.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
