A fake quote attributed to Vice President Leni Robredo urging suspects to carry a gun for a “fair fight” during a police raid is again circulating on social media.
The fabricated quote that resurfaced on Oct. 9 read:
“if the police wants to be armed during raid..i will allow the suspects to carry a gun and use it para po patas ang laban (for a fair fight).”
Robredo never said this. The date on the graphic alleged the statement was made on Nov. 11, 2019, and mimicked the quote card template of news media group News5.
Three days before the alleged statement was made, Robredo attended a meeting of the Inter-agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs where she called for a “strong national policy against illegal drugs.”
The vice president also criticized the drug war during the meeting, citing a “staggering” number of illegal drug users in the country.
“A lot of the agencies have been pouring out tremendous effort and resources already for this [anti-drug] campaign, and yet ganoon pa din kataas iyong numero (the numbers are still high)…Why don’t we reassess?” she said.
The fake quote card reappeared two days after Robredo announced her presidential run in the 2022 elections as an independent candidate.
It continued to circulate even after she bared her 11-person senatorial slate. The 12th slot has yet to be filled but is expected to represent the marginalized sector.
Among those that uploaded the fake quote card are Facebook group SOLID DU30 o PRO-GOVERNMENT AKO; bawal ang dilawan, which has nearly 24,000 members, and pages HealthylusciousPhilippines and Daily.
(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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