A nine-minute video has claimed that Sen. Manny Pacquiao’s diploma from locally-funded University of Makati (UMak) was fake and named City Mayor Abigail Binay, the school president, as an accomplice in the act. This is not true.
The video posted on July 7 by Youtube channel BANAT NEWS TV said in its headline, “JUST IN PDUTERTE NAGULAT sa NATUKLASAN KASABWAT ni PACQUIAO sa UMAK IKINANTA NA (President Duterte was shocked to know Pacquiao’s accomplice in UMak; now named)?!!”
Duterte was mentioned only once in the video, where it said that he is being sabotaged by Pacquiao. The comment was unrelated to the alleged controversy over the senator’s degree from the Makati university, as the headline indicated.
The video based its claim on a July 5 column of Bobi Tiglao in the Manila Times.
According to UMak, Pacquiao graduated from its College of Continuing, Advanced and Professional Studies (CCAPS). The program, it said, is designed specifically for professionals and is “anchored on the key principle that what one learns in the workplace must count as academic credits.”
Pacquiao spent 16 months under CCAPS. He started in August 2018 and graduated 16 months later in December 2019.
BANAT NEWS TV also published a similar claim in June. (SEE VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Duterte did NOT claim that Pacquiao paid for college diploma)
The false video emerged two days after Pacquiao questioned the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) over P10.4 billion missing funds from the social amelioration program (SAP) intended for low-income households.
It continued to circulate on social media after Pacquiao was ousted as president from the ruling PDP-Laban on July 17 and replaced by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi.
According to social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle (CT), 528,929 FB users could have been reached by the false post.
Its top online traffic generators are FB page RUN SARA RUN – 2020 ” Pag-Asa Ng Bayan, and FB groups PacquiaoVideos and Diehard Duterte Supporters and Friends.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
