A Facebook post on Sept. 2 falsely claimed Vice President Leni Robredo stole credit for the boat-giving project of the alumni of St. Theresa’s College (STC), a private school in Quezon City, by making it appear it was the Office of the Vice President that donated boats to “some fisher-folk in Mindoro.”
The post carried a screengrab of another Facebook status, which featured two photos of Robredo and the boats with the painted logo of the vice president’s livelihood program, Angat Buhay. A concerned alumna who helped raise funds to buy the boats was apparently surprised to see the photos with the vice president.
The STC Quezon City Alumnae Association (STCQCAA) debunked the claim. In a Facebook post, STCQCAA said Angat Buhay is a distribution partner in their Bangka ni Teresa project:
“The Bangka ni Teresa (BNT) is an ongoing project of the St. Theresa’s College Quezon City Alumnae Association (STCQCAA). It has aided children of island communities get to school and support families with their livelihood.
STCQCAA has the Angat Buhay of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) as its distribution partner in Agutaya, Palawan, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for Coron and Daanbantayan, Cebu.”
The photos were sourced from a June 22 Facebook post by the official page of Robredo, which gave credit to their “Angat Buhay partner, STCQAA” for providing four – not six, as claimed – motorized boats to seaweed farmers in Barangay Algeciras, Agutaya in Palawan, not Mindoro.
Over 10,000 people shared the false post two days after Robredo said President Rodrigo Duterte should focus on helping “suffering” Filipinos instead of “glorifying a dictator.” This was in response to Duterte’s comments that he would rather have a leader like the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos Sr. succeed him as president than Robredo.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
