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VERA FILES: Video FALSELY claims Marcoleta will replace Carlos as National Security Adviser

A YouTube video shared on several Facebook (FB) groups bore a clickbait headline and thumbnail claiming SAGIP Partylist Rep. Rodante Marcoleta will take Clarita Carlos’ post as National Security Adviser. This is false.

There is no official announcement from President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos about the supposed substitution. Carlos remains as National Security Adviser.

Posted on Dec. 4, the video’s headline read:  

“MARCOLETA IPAPALIT KAY CLARITA CARLOS! CLARITA SIKRETONG MAKIKIPAG KITA KAY JOMA! BUKING NI PBBM (MARCOLETA TO REPLACE CLARITA CARLOS! CLARITA TO SECRETLY MEET WITH JOMA! EXPOSED BY PBBM)!” 

The thumbnail showing images of Carlos, Marcos, Jeffrey “Ka Eric” Celiz and Marcoleta also bore the text “CLARITA PALITAN NA NI MARCOLETA. MARCOLETA IPALIT (CLARITA TO BE REPLACED BY MARCOLETA. CHANGE TO MARCOLETA)!”  

An arrow pointing at Carlos’ photo also carried the text “PALITAN NA KITA TANDA (I WILL NOW REPLACE YOU OLD [WOMAN])!”

This is false. The video showed no evidence to support the claim nor mentioned anything about Marcoleta replacing Carlos. 

Marcoleta was previously considered for a cabinet post by Marcos.

The erroneous video only played a clip from a Nov. 28 episode of an SMNI News show where the hosts challenged Carlos to answer questions about her alleged ties with the Communist Party of the Philippines. 

As the National Security Adviser, Carlos is also the Vice-Chairman of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). 

The video was uploaded four days after the House appropriations committee called for the restoration of the 2023 proposed budget for the NTF-ELCAC, previously reduced to P5 billion. Lawmakers restored the anti-insurgency task force’s P10 billion original budget on Dec. 5.

The video by the YouTube channel KA-ERIC UPDATES (created on Nov. 10, 2020) garnered 82,025 views. The link was shared on several FB groups such as BBM-SARAH 2022 Para Magandang Bukas Sa Bayan (Oct. 17, 2016), PiliPinas News & Federal-Parliamentarians PH (created on Oct. 11, 2020 as Jam Magno, Gov’t Forces & Federal-Parliamentarians) and Makabayan Bloc Resign Movement (Dec. 7, 2020).

The YouTube link garnered 583 interactions on FB according to the social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle.

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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.)