A video posted on Facebook (FB) and YouTube falsely claims that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos appointed SAGIP partylist Rep. Rodante Marcoleta as agriculture secretary.
No such appointment has been made.
The 12-minute and 18-second video posted on March 23 bore the headline:
“KAKAPASOK LANG (JUST IN) GOODNEWS PBBM BIGLAANG UTOS MARCOLETA BlNlGYAN ng POSlSYON (PBBM SUDDEN ORDER MARCOLETA GIVEN A POSITION) D.A SECRETARY DlLAWAN IYAK (YELLOWS CRY).”
The thumbnail featuring images of Marcos, Marcoleta and Sen. Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri carried the text:
“BAGONG POSISYON (NEW POSITION). MARCOLETA BABANG-GAEN ANG MGA OLIGARKO (MARCOLETA TO FIGHT AGAINST OLIGARCHS)! CONFIRMED! GOOD NEWS!”
This is false. There are no reports of Marcoleta now heading the Department of Agriculture (DA). Marcos is still the acting head since he assumed the post in June 2022.
The video’s headline and thumbnail are clickbait as the content showed no evidence to support the false claim.
It only played March 22 Bombo Radyo Philippines news reports on the Palace defending Marcos’ move that allowed DA’s Kadiwa centers to sell confiscated smuggled sugar and the Bureau of Customs’ implementing stricter campaign against the entry of contrabands in the country.
The rest of the video played audio clips of Marcoleta’s seven-month-old interview in a news program where he talked about an August 22, 2022 House probe on the Sugar Regulatory Administration’s (SRA) unauthorized importations. In the interview, Marcoleta also said that Marcos should appoint a full-time agriculture secretary.
The false video came out three days after it was reported that Marcos approved SRA’s recommendation to donate 4,000 metric tons of smuggled refined sugar to DA for its Kadiwa stores to sell.
On March 23, the president also appointed new DA officials but did not assign a new secretary.
Several netizens fell for the wrong information, with most of them congratulating Marcoleta and commending Marcos in the comment sections.
VERA Files has debunked a similar claim spread by the same YouTube channel. (Read Marcos did NOT appoint Marcoleta to a cabinet post)
The video posted by the FB page Showbiz update (created on March 10, 2023) has so far 1,700 reactions, 321 comments, 52,000 views and 190 shares.. YouTube channel PINAS NEWS INSIDER’s (Dec. 26, 2015) video also garnered 198,187 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.)
