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Facebook posts shared hundreds of times attribute a quote to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman Harry Roque, claiming he told critics to win an election first to get your chance to steal. The claim is false; the posts show a fabricated news graphic based on a press conference where Roque never made such remarks. The graphic -- which bears the logo of media organisation SMNI News -- was published on Facebook on September 4. It purports to show remarks by Roque on September 2, which translate to English as: Corruption is a tiring issue. Corruption already existed during the time of Jesus. You say corruption has worsened nowadays, so what? Win an election first to get your chance to steal if you want! The Facebook post's Tagalog-language caption reads: This has now become a competition among thieves... He's already stolen so much. The post has been shared more than 350 times. A screenshot of the misleading post taken on September 6, 2021 The post circulated after Roque defended the government from allegations of corruption in the purchase of pandemic supplies. The same graphic was shared on Facebook here , here and here . Comments on the posts indicate that some social media users were misled. You guys are the worst! You're even encouraging others to steal! one wrote. Roque, for me, your line of reasoning cannot be considered as coming from a professional, another commented. However, the graphic is fabricated. Reverse image searches and keyword searches found it was doctored from a graphic published by Philippine TV network ABS-CBN on September 2, and not SMNI News as the posts claim. Roque's Tagalog-language quote in the original graphic states: It’s the corporation who made the bid. So there’s no need for us to scrutinise the personalities behind the corporation because they are a separate personality. Screenshot comparison of the doctored graphic (left) and original graphic (right) ABS-CBN denied posting the graphic in the misleading posts. We confirm that we did not publish this art card, a spokesperson told AFP. SMNI News took to Facebook to reject the news graphic, calling it a fake. Roque's remarks in the original graphic published by ABS-CBN were taken from a September 2 press briefing . He was responding to accusations of corruption in the government's purchase of Covid-19 equipment. Nowhere in the press briefing did he tell critics to steal. Roque said in a Facebook post that the quote was fake news.
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