A blog called “Blog di pinoypolitics” (pinoypolitics.altervista.org) published April 20 a false story claiming former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has won his poll case against Vice President Leni Robredo.
The story’s headline “TAGUMPAY SI VICE PRESIDENT BONGBONG MARCOS VS LENI ROBREDO! PANOORIN (Vice President Bongbong Marcos wins vs Leni Robredo! Watch)” does not reflect its content, a 16-minute video of “Maharlika,” a California-based Duterte supporter, who discussed Robredo’s 2016 win but did not mention Marcos winning in the recount.
The story was published a day after Robredo asked the Supreme Court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal, to reverse an earlier ruling applying a 25 percent threshold for votes to be considered valid in the recount.
Marcos filed an electoral protest in June 2016, following a narrow loss to Robredo in the VP race.
The story’s biggest traffic generators on social media are Pinoy Republic, Pres. Rody Duterte News Global and Pilipinas Trending. Along with Maharlika’s video uploaded to Youtube channel PagBabago Ng Pinas, the story could have reached more than 327,000 people.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
