Two YouTube videos falsely claim that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos has appointed SAGIP Partylist Rep. Rodante Marcoleta as a cabinet member. This is not true.
An 11-minute and three-second video posted on March 7 bore this false headline:
“KAKAPASOK LANG DlLAWAN na-SHOCKED! BIGLAANG UTOS ni PRES MARCOS BINIGYAN ng POSISYON CONG MARCOLETA (JUST IN YELLOWS were SHOCKED! SUDDEN ORDER of PRES MARCOS GAVE a POSITION CONG MARCOLETA).”
Two days later, another YouTube channel uploaded an eight-minute and four-second video with a similar headline:
“JUST IN: CONFIRMED! PRES MARCOS BINIGYAN na NG POSISY0N Cong. MARCOLETA! DILAW4N na SHOCKED (PRES MARCOS has GIVEN Cong MARCOLETA a POSITION! YELLOWS were SHOCKED)! VP SARA.“
These are false. Malacañang has made no announcement of such an appointment for Marcoleta.
Prior to his inauguration, Marcos had considered Marcoleta to be part of his Cabinet but there has since been no development on the matter.
No evidence was presented in the videos to back their untrue claim.
Both videos played a March 3 interview of Marcoleta in the Net25 show Sa Ganang Mamamayan where he talked about the agriculture sector and a probe on the alleged hoarding and price manipulation of onion and garlic.
The YouTube channels also grabbed audio clips from a March 7 Bombo Radyo news report on topics unrelated to Marcoleta, such as the murder of a local governor and a House resolution to amend the 1987 Constitution.
Netizens fell for the wrong information, with some congratulating Marcoleta and others thinking he has become the new Agriculture chief. Marcos is the acting Agriculture secretary.
The misleading videos came out as Marcoleta on March 7 moved to cite for contempt some officials of a cold storage facility during a House probe on rising prices of agricultural products. The contempt order was eventually lifted on March 14.
VERA Files has debunked a similar video claiming Marcoleta will become the National Security Adviser. (Read Video FALSELY claims Marcoleta will replace Carlos as National Security Adviser)
YouTube channel PINAS NEWS INSIDER (created on Dec. 26, 2015) and Showbiz Sports Fanatics’ (August 9, 2021) videos currently have 403,167 and 92,098 views respectively. Netizens also shared the link on Facebook.
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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.)