A fake quote card that claims Britain’s Queen Elizabeth praised the leadership of President Rodrigo Duterte and called Filipinos the “worst citizens” for criticizing him is making the rounds on social media.
Uploaded by several netizens on Facebook (FB) on April 6, the fabricated post claims the monarch made the statement during a rare, televised speech she gave on April 5 (United Kingdom time) about the COVID-19 pandemic.
The concocted quote reads: “Pres. Duterte is the kind of leader who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. Filipinos are very fortunate to have him. Seriously, he looked so overworked. He may not be perfect but he truly loves his country. Philippines doesn’t have the worst government. It actually has the worst citizens.”
This is fake. The Queen’s address was primarily one of gratitude and appreciation for the efforts of Britain’s frontliners and other essential workers in the country’s fight against the pandemic. She also said Britain joins all nations in a common endeavor to meet the health challenge, but made no mention of any country or leader.
More, the circulating post is a tampered version of an April 6 infographic by Inquirer.net uploaded on its FB and Twitter accounts.
It originally read: “This time we join with all nations across the globe in a common endeavour, using the great advances of science and our instinctive compassion to heal. We will succeed – and that success will belong to every one of us.”
The fabricated quote of Queen Elizabeth surfaced following the proliferation of other fake quote cards featuring fictional or well-known personalities supposedly expressing their support for Duterte, amid criticism of his administration’s response to the COVID-19 crisis.
This is not the first time a fake statement praising Duterte was attributed to the Queen. In December 2019, VERA Files Fact Check debunked a post that shows Queen Elizabeth telling United States President Donald Trump to “emulate” Duterte. (See: VERA FILES FACT CHECK: FAKE post claiming Queen Elizabeth told Trump to emulate Duterte leadership revived)
The recent fake quote card has been shared by a number of netizens. Among its earliest iterations is a post that has now gained over 3,000 shares and more than 800 reactions on FB.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
