A fake online post claiming to quote newly-elected Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isko” Moreno Domagoso likening himself to President Rodrigo Duterte has gone viral on Facebook (FB).
An FB page named Alon Calinao Dy posted July 7 a fabricated quote card on Moreno. Splicing together a 2016 PEP.ph photo of Moreno and a 2017 painting of Duterte by an artist named Maestro Abayan, it claimed the former Manila vice-mayor said,
“Kung kaya ng Davao City, kaya din ng Lungsod ng Maynila. Di bale na ako gumaya kay Pangulong Duterte. Basta maganda naman (If Davao City can do it, the City of Manila can, too. It doesn’t matter if I copy President Duterte. As long as it turns out great).”
No official records nor news articles turned up quoting Moreno making the statement. Running the quote through a cursory search also only turned up similar online posts by other Facebook pages after Alon Calinao Dy published its hoax.
The fake quote card surfaced around the same time Moreno began his first week in office, when he made news headlines for sledgehammering illegal gambling machines and cleaning up the hawker- and sidewalk-vendor-filled streets of Divisoria, a shopping area for bargain hunters, and other filthy public places.
Social media traffic to the fake post largely came from pages Alon Calinao Dy, Tulfo Brothers Worldwide, and SARA DUTERTE FOR PRESIDENT 2022 ELECTIONS.
The Alon Calinao Dy page was created in January 2014.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
