A YouTube video used two TikTok clips to claim that presidential candidate Leni Robredo’s campaign spent P468 million for the PasigLaban Grand Rally last month. This is false.
Notorious for online disinformation, SHOWBIZ FANATICZ YouTube channel posted on April 2 the video with this title: “Matapos GUMASTOS ng ₱468 MILLION sa PASIG RALLY| ROBREDO INAYAWAN NA ng mga FINANCER!| “TALO KANA!”” (After spending P468 million on Pasig rally | Financiers backed out from Robredo! | “You lose!”)
SHOWBIZ FANATICZ’ three-minute video used an April 2 clip of TikTok user alagangpalma for the P468 million expense claim.
Lawyers for Leni-Pasig, who organized the March 20 PasigLaban grand rally for Robredo and vice presidential candidate Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan“ denied these allegations.
“The amount of cash and in-kind contributions spent for the PasigLaban event is less than 1% of the alleged Php 460M mentioned above,” Lawyers for Leni-Pasig told VERA Files Fact Check via email.
VERA Files Fact Check requested Lawyers for Leni-Pasig to give exact figures or a breakdown of the expenses, but no amount has been given. One percent of P468 million is P4.68 million.
“As the event was purely driven by volunteer groups, VP Leni, Senator Kiko and the rest of Senatoriables were merely invited to attend the event. No money came from the candidates nor any of their campaign teams,” Lawyers for Leni-Pasig added.
The video also added another clip of TikTok user marcfyzeon posted on April 1 to claim that Robredo’s financiers are backing out. This claim first appeared in an unverified Journal News Online article which cited anonymous sources.
“This is absolutely false. While the campaign has never had the money or machinery of other camps that have been preparing for far longer, there is certainly no lack of funds,” Robredo’s spokesperson Barry Gutierrez told VERA Files Fact Check via Viber on March 22 in reaction to the article.
The false video drew some 24,900 views on YouTube and a total of 1,100 interactions on Facebook. It emerged two days after blogger Jam Magno claimed on March 30 that Robredo spent P400 million for her Pasig rally.
Among the top traffic generators of the false YouTube video include FB pages Banat By May (created on May 18, 2021), PH Zone (June 22, 2020), and Pinoy Today (June 15, 2020).
TikTok user alagangpalma’s video got 327,860 interactions, while marcyfyzeon’s video got 46,450 interactions.
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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.)
