A fabricated quote card of lawyer Christian Monsod where he supposedly “apologized” for the “terrible lapses in logic” of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, is making the rounds on social media. At least three Facebook (FB) pages individually published the fake quote card on July 6.
The piece of disformation published by the pages DDS New York, SCROLL DOWN, and Reforma Constitucional Filipinas claimed that Monsod, one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, made the following statement:
“I apologize to the entire Filipino Nation for the terrible suffering caused as a result of the failure of my colleagues and myself in drafting the 1987 Constitution. It was our fault that the 1987 Constitution is full of terrible lapses in logic. This happened because President Cory Aquino gave us only 4 months to rush-draft this Constitution, and we did not have enough time to test the logic of the draft.”
There is no official record of Monsod saying such a thing.
The quote card that has been circulating is an altered version of a June 24 social media graphic posted by civic media page Now You Know, which originally featured a comment Monsod made in an interview he had that same day with ANC’s Rundown, regarding the possible candidacy of President Rodrigo Duterte for vice president in the upcoming 2022 polls. This was juxtaposed with his photo taken from a February 2018 CNN Philippines report.
In the fabricated quote card, however, his comment was replaced with an entirely concocted one, and his photo was altered to make it look like he was crying.
While the 1987 Constitution was drafted and completed by the Constitutional Commission within four months and 10 days, more than 76 percent of the country’s population voted in favor of its ratification during a national plebiscite.
According to a page in The Official Gazette, the Constitutional Commission held its first meeting on June 2, 1986, and finished the Constitution’s draft on Oct. 12, 1986, the same day it voted for the passage of the draft in second reading. The commission’s final session was on Oct. 16 that year, and the national plebiscite was held on Feb. 2, 1987. Nine days later, the 1987 Constitution “finally came into full force and effect”.
Monsod’s fake quote card came just two weeks after his interview in Rundown, where he referred to Duterte’s possible vice presidential candidacy in 2022 as an “insidious move” to evade the term limit set by the Constitution for presidents.
He said that allowing such an act will “open the door for a term in office even longer than the replaced provision of a maximum of 8 years,” referring to the old Constitutional provision that allowed a president to serve a maximum of two terms, with four years per term.
The 1987 Constitution changed this by setting a presidential term limit of six years and prohibiting reelection.
On July 6, Duterte explicitly said that he is “seriously thinking of running for vice president” in next year’s polls.
The posts by DDS New York, SCROLL DOWN, and Reforma Constitucional Filipinas carrying the fake quote card collectively received over 1,100 reactions, 230 comments, and 550 shares from FB users.
DDS New York’s post, which got the most engagement of the three, could have reached more than 127,000 netizens according to social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
