President Rodrigo Duterte’s loose lips again courted him trouble in 2018. But his two loyal spokespersons — Harry Roque and Salvador Panelo — were swift in defending what many had assailed as sexist remarks on women, unpatriotic comments on Philippine-China relations, and a disturbing reveal on marijuana use. Again and again and again, they would rebrand Duterte’s gaffes as presidential jokes. Watch the video.
(Guided by the code of principles of the International Fact-Checking Network at Poynter, VERA Files tracks the false claims, flip-flops, misleading statements of public officials and figures, and debunks them with factual evidence. Find out more about this initiative and our methodology.)
