A video claiming in its headline that Sen. Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao’s political party asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to disqualify him from running in the 2022 elections, is false.
This is a spin on current events. A faction of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi indeed filed a petition with the Comelec against Pacquiao on Sept. 7.
It did not seek to bar him from running in the upcoming elections but rather, to declare the athlete-lawmaker and his fellow senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel as illegitimate representatives of the party.
This happened amid ongoing party infighting that has caused PDP-Laban to split into two factions—one led by Cusi, and another by Pimentel.
Uploaded Sept. 8 by the YouTube channel BANAT NEWS TV, the video’s untrue title read: “JUST IN : FINALLY! PRES DUTERTE CONFIRMED! PDP LABAN PINA-DISQUALIFY si PACQUIAO sa COMELEC sa 2022 (is getting Pacquiao disqualified at Comelec for 2022)?!!”
A copy of the clip with a similar headline was published by the Facebook (FB) page Duterte News Info nine hours later.
The false posts were published the same day the Cusi faction held a national convention in San Fernando, Pampanga to nominate its standard-bearers in 2022.
The YouTube channel, which has a history of spreading disinformation, spliced together three different news reports from a Sept. 7 news broadcast of Bombo Radyo about:
- the Cusi faction’s national convention (timecode: 41:12);
- Comelec confirming that Cusi’s group filed a petition against Pacquiao and Pimentel (timecode: 23:54); and
- the Philippine National Police assigning personnel to help relief efforts in areas affected by Typhoon Jolina (timecode: 21:41).
As of publishing, BANAT NEWS TV’s untrue post has gotten over 229,000 views, while Duterte News Info’s version has received more than 8,100 interactions and 327,000 views.
BANAT NEWS TV was created in December 2015, Duterte News Info in December 2020.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
