Two websites – dailyartikulo.info and thedailysentry.net – this week revived an old story about former president Fidel V. Ramos suggesting that Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos has information about the 1983 assassination of former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.
Thedailysentry.net published its misleading story on Aug. 21, Aquino’s 35th death anniversary, and dailyartikulo.info the day after. Both bore the headline, “Ramos infers Imelda Marcos knew of the conspiracy behind Ninoy Aquino’s death.”
The opposition leader was among those jailed by Imelda’s husband, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., when the deceased former president declared Martial Law in 1972.
Dailyartikulo.info and thedailysentry.net claimed the revelation was recent, and said in a video taken during a press briefing that “Monday,” Ramos supposedly said: “But in terms of the apology that I requested, it was not from Irene. It was from the mother, the head of the family…who knew everything! Including the beginning of Martial Law, including the good years before Martial Law, including what must have happened in August 1983.”
No such clip can be found in the stories.
Moreover, the statement can actually be traced to one which Ramos made almost two years ago — November 22, 2016 — when he made that remark at a press briefing. It was Philstar.com, in its story that day on Ramos, which included a clip of the former president making the statement.
Ramos has not made any public statement in recent weeks.
Traffic to the stories largely came from social media accounts of The Filipino News, Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos and The News Wire, and could have reached more than 3.4 million 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.)
