Archive - FACT CHECK

What is the Maharlika Investment Fund? Why is it facing so much backlash?

A YouTube video claimed President Bongbong Marcos ordered Justice Secretary Boying Remulla to resign. This is false.

What’s in the proposed heterosexual bill and how is it different from the SOGIESC Equality bill?

Two YouTube videos falsely claimed President Bongbong Marcos has appointed former Interior secretary Mar Roxas as agriculture secretary.

Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos said recently that farmers can earn more by planting dragon fruit alternately with rice. “’Yung Taiwan malaki ang demanda ng dragon fruit (Taiwan has a high demand for dragon fruit). Eh [but] they can only plant dragon fruit three or four times, three or four months of the

Defending the proposed creation of the Maharlika Wealth Fund, former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos pointed to former senator Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV as the original of a similar measure in 2016. This needs context.

A fabricated quote card is circulating online where former vice president Leni Robredo attributed her defeat to President Bongbong Marcos in the May election to massive disinformation.

In pushing for legislation against the spread of false information online, Sen. Robinhood Padilla enumerated 15 countries that have laws against “fake news.” His list, however, carries some inaccuracies.

In a span of four years, Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa went from supporting the death penalty for all illegal drug offenders as director-general of the Bureau of Corrections to proposing rehabilitation for users. Now, the former Philippine National Police chief says he has “second thoughts” about his own measure.

The P25 per kilo rice is available only in Kadiwa ng Pasko caravan stores which operate in limited areas at designated dates and time in Metro Manila and in the provinces of Oriental Mindoro, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur and Davao de Oro.

A bogus link redirecting to an allegedly revived version of the now-defunct social networking site Friendster is making the rounds on social media.

A Facebook page impersonating celebrity-vlogger Cheska Garcia-Kramer used altered photos of her family to advertise a product called Japan Pasteur Institute Mouth Spray. 

A couple of Facebook pages are yet again repeating the false claim that suspended BuCor Director General Gerald Bantag has been reinstated.

A Facebook page claimed in a graphic that the City of Pearl infrastructure project is part of the flagship infrastructure programs of former president Rodrigo Duterte and incumbent President Bongbong Marcos. Not true. It is a public-private partnership project entered into by the City of Manila in 2017.

A video claims President Bongbong Marcos was astonished by US President Joe Biden’s shocking decision to “arm” the country with nuclear power. This is misleading, the talks with the U.S. referred to a possible deal on nuclear energy, not weapons.

A 2015 Commission on Audit (COA) set of guidelines defines confidential expenses as lump sum amounts for “surveillance activities in civilian government agencies.” It categorically states that “in no case shall (confidential or intelligence funds) be used for … construction or acquisition of buildings or housing structures.”

Facebook pages are sharing a video that claims Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle was removed by Pope Francis from Caritas Internationalis for misusing church money. This is not true.

What are confidential and intelligence funds? For what can these be used?

A YouTube video featured a deep-water platform and falsely claimed it to be a mega project between Japan and the Philippines. Not true.

A quote card where Ilocos Norte 1st District Rep. Sandro Marcos asked people to use a more inexpensive type of onion is fake.

A Facebook page has posted an announcement that IKEA is donating couches that cannot be sold due to “minor damage” to anyone who registers with the website it linked. This is a scam.

Several pages posted a fake video claiming Kris Aquino has passed away and that her family is deliberately hiding her wake from the public.

A video on YouTube claims that the wealth of President Bongbong Marcos allegedly totals up to quadrillions of dollars. This has no basis.

In a press conference on Nov. 21, Justice Secretary Boying Remulla defended the decision of the Philippine delegation to reject the United Nations Human Rights Council’s recommendation to decriminalize abortion. “We have to discuss more on the policy of population growth kasi may lumalabas that there are benefits and there’s just good and bad about