A report that recycles a 2017 story of President Rodrigo Duterte calling Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan the “most stupid politician” was published May 9 by website dutertepilipinas.info. The report misleads as it appears to be a fresh reaction to a recent issue involving the senator, when in fact the story is almost eight months old.
Bearing the headline “Pres. Duterte calls Kiko Pangilinan the ‘most stupid’ politician in Philippine history,” the report used as its source a video of Duterte making the comment in a speech, first uploaded Sept. 26, 2017 by pro-Duterte Facebook page MindaVote.
While Duterte did say Pangilinan is “the most stupid politician who walked the (face of the) Philippines,” he did so in reaction to Pangilinan’s 2006 Juvenile Justice Law, which the president says has produced people “with criminal minds.”
The timing of the story’s revival is suspect, being posted three days after the senator said recent attacks against Vice President Leni Robredo and former Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez were meant to divert the public’s attention from issues currently hounding the Duterte administration.
Aside from a link to a now-defunct copy of the video, the website also used as its source an online video poll of Communications Assistant Secretary Margaux “Mocha” Uson’s Facebook page MOCHA USON BLOG, asking netizens to weigh in on Duterte’s comment on Pangilinan, and an Inquirer column of broadcaster Ramon Tulfo.
The story could have reached more than 1.7 million people, traffic from social media largely being generated by Inday Sara Duterte Supporters, President Rodrigo Duterte and Duterte Warriors. Dutertepilipinas.info was created in Oct. 2017.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
