Two Facebook (FB) users published a misleading graphic showing different infrastructure projects that supposedly serve as the “legacy” of previous administrations.
The posts dated Feb. 9 and 19 showed three bridges. It credited the following to two “corrupt” presidents:
- the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX) under the incumbent Rodrigo Duterte
- the San Juanico Bridge under the late ousted Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
It then attributed to a “not corrupt” president, the late Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, a wooden bridge in Zamboanga City that caved in.
It is a fact that the San Juanico Bridge, which connects Samar and Leyte, was built during Marcos’ term.
And it is also true that the collapsed wooden footbridge was part of the Aquino administration’s Zamboanga City Roadmap to Recovery and Reconstruction Program, according to a 2018 FB post of Zamboanga City Mayor Beng Climaco.
However, the CCLEX is a project that commenced not under Duterte but Aquino, who was president from June 2010 to June 2016.
Studies for the construction of the bridge were conducted in 2014. In January 2016, the Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MTPC) filed a disclosure form stating it received notices of award for “the financing, design, construction, implementation, operation and maintenance” of the bridge.
(Read related story: VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Crediting Mark Villar, Duterte’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ for Cebu bridge started during Aquino’s term needs context)
The CCLEX is a joint venture project signed in April 2016 between the MTPC in collaboration with the City of Cebu and the municipality of Cordova. The 8.9-kilometer expressway will be the longest bridge in the country once construction is completed.
A netizen, criticizing one of the posts, said the CCLEX is a Public-Private Partnership project and that credit should instead go to the local government units involved.
VERA Files Fact Check also debunked a similar misleading graphic last year. (Read VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Comparison of infrastructure projects under different administrations MISLEADING)
The graphic emerged a few hours after the CCLEX announced on its FB page the bridge is 89.31% complete.
The FB posts have since garnered more than 22,100 reactions, 170 comments and 52,000 shares.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
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