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VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Malacañang has NOT named people behind fake appointment document

A video on Facebook (FB) claiming that Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles has exposed the forgers behind the fake document on the appointment of an immigration commissioner is not true. 

On Aug. 30, an FB page published the video that bore the false headline: PRES MARCOS NA-SHOCK ??? PACQUIAO SIBAK NA ATTY TRIXIE BINUKING GUMAGAYA SA PIRMA NI BBM  (President [Ferdinand “Bongbong”] Marcos shocked, Pacquiao fired, Atty. Trixie exposed [people] who imitated Marcos’ signature)??”

The first three minutes of the 24-minute video showed a clip from an Aug. 30 interview with Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa where he mentioned a resolution to remove former senator Manny Pacquiao as a member of the PDP-Laban party.

In an Aug. 30 press release, the official FB page of the PDP-Laban stated that their national council adopted all issued resolutions last year, which includes the expulsion of Pacquiao.

The rest of the video carried Cruz-Angeles’ Aug. 30 press briefing where she discussed the fake document – containing the forged signature of Marcos and the presidential seal – on the appointment of an immigration commissioner. Cruz-Angeles did not name a specific person behind the alleged forgery and said it was still under investigation.

In that briefing, Cruz-Angeles confirmed that there is no record of such a document in Malacanang, and mentioned the penalties for forging the government seal, the signature and stamp of the president under the Revised Penal Code, Article 161.

She said President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos has already mobilized the National Bureau of Investigation and Philippine National Police to investigate the matter. Both agencies have revealed no suspects so far.

“We are not presuming anything for now. Let’s see the results first, at least preliminarily, in the investigation,” she said in a mix of Filipino and English.

FB page Duterte Info News (created on Aug. 28) published the video a day after Cruz-Angeles’ briefing where she revealed the forgery. It has garnered over 8,300 reactions, 750 comments, 1,000 shares and 304,000 views.

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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.)