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  • 2021-11-16 (xsd:date)
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  • False reports claim priest 'castigated' Philippine VP Leni Robredo for controversial vote-buying remarks (en)
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  • Facebook and YouTube posts circulating in the Philippines purport to show a video of a priest castigating Vice President Leni Robredo for controversial remarks she made on vote-buying. The claim is false. The video shows a priest's homily made before Robredo's comments. Father Franz Dizon said his message was not about her. The video was shared on Facebook on November 1 and has been viewed more than 300,000 times. The video's Tagalog-language title reads: PRIEST CASTIGATES LENI BECAUSE OF VOTE-BUYING REMARKS! HE COUNTERS BISHOP VILLEGAS TOO! SHOCKING! The post circulated after Robredo -- a candidate in the Philippine presidential election in 2022 -- drew flak for saying at a public forum on October 26 that while vote-buying was wrong, voters should accept the cash but still vote for the candidate based on your conscience. Screenshot of the false post taken on November 16, 2021 A voice-over at the start of the video says: After Archbishop Villegas said that vote-buying is not a sin, defending Leni Robredo's statement, another priest courageously berated Leni Robredo and Archbishop Villegas. Socrates Villegas is a Filipino archbishop who was accused of delivering a similar message to Robredo's about vote-buying in a Facebook video on October 28. Vote-buying and selling is a sin to God and against the law, he said. But if you are hungry, if you are needy, you may accept it but do not fulfill that which is asked of you because if a candidate is doing something illegal and awful and you’re being involved, tell them: 'commit that sin on your own, leave me out of it'. The video purportedly showing a priest berating Robredo and Villegas was also shared on Facebook here and on YouTube here and here . Some social media users appeared to believe the claim. Amen! The church needs more priests like him, compared to the likes of Archbishop Villegas who doesn't know the difference between right and wrong, illegal or not, one person commented. It's good that Leni got berated! another wrote. However, the claim is false. Keyword searches on YouTube found the clip of the priest's homily posted on October 17 -- over a week before Robredo and Villegas made their comments about vote-buying. A review of the homily -- which was delivered by Father Franz Dizon -- found he never mentioned Robredo or Villegas. Dizon also refuted the false posts in a statement published on Facebook on November 1. If one watches the entire homily, it was not about VP Leni Robredo or any other candidate as others claim. The homily shares advice for voters to be critical based on the word of God, he wrote in Tagalog. We do not oppose what [Villegas] said because this does not deviate from the word of God and the doctrine of the Catholic Church. (en)
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