An official bio page of Louise “Liza” Araneta-Marcos, wife of presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., listed her as a member of the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA), a private voluntary membership association for licensed attorneys in the state of New York.
This has no basis. According to NYSBA, it currently has no record of a Louise Araneta-Marcos in its membership.
STATEMENT
In the official website of her law firm M & Associates, the profile of Araneta-Marcos listed the following as one of her professional affiliations.
“Member: New York State Bar Association”
Source: M & Associates official website, Marcos, Louise Araneta (Archived), Accessed April 8, 2022
FACT
There are no records of Araneta-Marcos being a current member of the association, and neither is she listed in the state’s roll of attorneys allowed to practice.
VERA Files Fact Check reached out to both the NYSBA and New York State’s Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) to check the registration of Araneta-Marcos under the possible variations of her maiden and married names: Ma. Louise Araneta, Ma. Louise Marcos, Ma. Louise Araneta-Marcos, Louise Araneta, and Louise Marcos.
Responding to VERA Files via email, NYSBA said:
“At this time, our records show that Louise Araneta-Marcos is not a member of our Association.”
Source: New York State Bar Association, email correspondence, April 6, 2022
Meanwhile, the Attorney Registration Unit of New York State’s OCA wrote in response to VERA Files Fact Check’s query:
“A review of our files indicates no record of an individual listed as admitted as an attorney to the New York bar since 1920 with the name of ‘MARIE LOUISE ARANETA-MARCOS’, ‘MARIE LOUISE CACHO ARANETA’, or ‘LOUISE ARANETA MARCOS.’”
Source: New York State – Attorney Registration Unit, email correspondence, April 6, 2022
No results also turned up after VERA Files Fact Check searched for Marcos-Araneta’s name in the Attorney Online Services – Search feature of the New York State Unified Court System.
Twitter was abuzz this week over Araneta-Marcos’ membership in the NYSBA after a netizen posted a screenshot of the organization, also in an email response, saying they have no registered member going by her name.
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Sources:
New York State Bar Association, personal communication (email), April 6, 2022
New York State – Office of the Court Administrator Attorney Registration Unit, personal communication (email), April 6, 2022
New York State Unified Court System, Attorney Online Services – Search
(Guided by the code of principles of the International Fact-Checking Network at Poynter, VERA Files tracks the false claims, flip-flops, misleading statements of public officials and figures, and debunks them with factual evidence. Find out more about this initiative and our methodology.)
