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A screenshot of an online article about Filipino politics has been shared hundreds of times in Facebook posts that present it as a genuine news report. The article says the Philippine vice president promised to quit if no candidates from her party won in recent midterm elections. The posts are misleading; the article is satirical and was originally published by a website that describes itself as creative writing. Multiple Facebook posts, including this one, shared around 1,500 times since it was uploaded May 14, 2019, and this one published the same day, contain a screenshot of an apparent news article about Philippine Vice President Leni Robredo. Robredo is a member of the opposition Liberal Party. Here is her Twitter profile and here is the party website. Below is a screenshot of one of the posts: Screenshot of Facebook post The post’s Filipino-language caption, translated to English, says: Let’s spread this masters, vice leni will step down if those in her line up will not make it.. Congrats... The article in the screenshot has the headline: Robredo To Step Down If None Of The Otso Diretso Makes It To Magic 12? Otso Diretso, meaning Eight Straight, was the name of the alliance fielded by the Liberal Party in the Philippines’ midterm elections on May 13, 2019. Here is their campaign page on Facebook. The Magic 12 refers to the winners of the Senate race, where 12 seats were up for grabs. Unofficial results reported by AFP here on May 14 indicate a bad result for the Liberal Party. The same image was also shared in other Facebook posts that also present the article as genuine. Screenshots of three of these posts appear below, followed by English translations of their captions: Screenshot of images 1. This post shared around 1,500 times has a caption that says, translated to English: I hope the VP still remembers this. Please spread so this can reach Her!. 2. The caption of this post says, translated to English: O FAKE VP will you keep your word??? 3. Translated to English, this post says: O yeah! Welcome BBM. BBM refers to Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr, the son and namesake of late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Here is his website. He lost to Robredo in the race for vice president in May 2016, as reported by AFP here at the time, but he lodged a challenge to the results that prompted a recount, as shown in this official document published on his website. The recount is still ongoing. Here is an update on the matter on the website of the Philippines’ Supreme Court dated January 22, 2019 . All of the posts contain a screengrab of an article credited to The Adobo Chronicles, this satirical website. Here is the original Adobo Chronicles article shown in the post, which is dated May 7, 2019. The image below compares screenshots of the misleading Facebook post (L) and the original article as it appears on the Adobo Chronicles site (R): Comparison of misleading Facebook post (L) and Adobo Chronicles article (R)
The text and photo of Robredo in the two screenshots is the same, but the font is different and the date, byline and ‘Leave a comment’ does not appear in the image featured in the misleading Facebook post. On the Adobo Chronicles ‘about’ page here there is a disclaimer written in a satirical tone which says that the information on the site is not fully factual. It says, in part: When writing stories for this blog, we let the news sizzle and simmer in our mind in a mixture of fact and fiction, then we spice it up with figments of our imagination. It also says: Everything you read on this site is based on fact, except for the lies. We abide by the highest standards of creative writing and intend to make this site as respectable as possible to the extent allowed by our fertile mind. Below is a screenshot of the disclaimer: Screenshot of website Some Facebook users appeared to believe the posts were sharing a genuine article about Robredo. For example, a comment on one of the misleading posts, translated to English, says: Where’s your promise that you will step down if the Straight Eight does not win leave now VP. Below is a screenshot of the comment with the identity of the poster redacted: Screenshot of comment The comment below, when translated to English, says: Ma’am may not be a liar if she will indeed step down as she said. This is when we will see her real character, when the winning senators have already been declared, right ma’am? Screenshot of comment
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