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A video has been viewed tens of thousands of times in multiple Facebook posts which claim that Philippine Vice President Leni Robredo demanded a budget of four trillion pesos ($82.38 billion) for her office in 2021. The claim is false; Robredo in fact proposed a budget of 679 million pesos ($13.98 million) during congressional deliberations in September 2020. The 17-minute eight-second video was shared on Facebook here on September 14, 2020. It has been viewed more than 25,000 times. A screenshot of the misleading post, taken on September 22, 2020 The video’s caption reads: NETIZENS GANG UP ON LENI ROBREDO After her OFFICE Demanded P4 TRILLION BUDGET?! The video begins and ends with photos of Robredo. A voiceover can be heard stating she requested her office receive a four trillion dollar budget for 2021. The middle of the video (from the one-minute one-second mark to the 15-minute eight-second mark) shows footage of Robredo answering questions from Philippine legislators during a budget hearing. The video was also shared on Facebook here and here , and on this website. The video’s claim, however, is false. The portion of the video that shows Robredo in a budget hearing is footage from a congressional House Appropriations Committee meeting on September 14, 2020. The footage in the misleading posts corresponds to the 23-minute 52-second mark and the 39-minute 29-second mark of this live recording of the session streamed on the Philippine House of Representatives’ official Facebook page. At the live video’s 12-minute 38-second mark, Robredo states: We submitted initially a budget of 720 million pesos ($14.8 million), which is the same budget as what we had last year. But what the DBM approved was only 679 million pesos. So that's the budget we are presenting, your honor, the one approved by DBM. DBM refers to the Philippine Department of Budget and Management. Nowhere in the hearing does Robredo request a budget of four trillion pesos. Multiple news reports on the hearing, for example by ABS-CBN here and CNN Philippines here , also reflect the accurate budgets and do not indicate Robredo demanded four trillion pesos. Four trillion pesos is roughly equivalent to the budget for the entire Philippine government for 2020.
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