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A photo shared thousands of times on Facebook claims to show a Philippine actress holding a sign urging people not to vote for opposition candidates in midterm elections. The photo has been doctored; in the original the actress is holding a sign endorsing opposition candidates. The misleading post has been shared over 7,000 times since being posted here and here on May 7. The photo shows Cynthia Patag , known in the Philippines for her comedic roles, holding a sign that says ZERO VOTE written across the faces of eight opposition candidates. Below is a screenshot of the post: Screenshot of Facebook post In a combination of Tagalog and English, the caption in the post reads: ZERO VOTE, NEVER AGAIN! LET US NOT ALLOW THE Lpigs TO RULE OUR LAND AGAIN! Lpigs is a reference to the Liberal Party, the main opposition in the Philippines. Here is a link to their website. The sign also lists the names of eight opposition candidates and highlights certain letters from each name in yellow to spell out OCHO GAGO, which when translated to English, means EIGHT FOOLS. The statement at the bottom of the poster, when translated to English, says: Easy to remember: EIGHT FOOLS. Eight fools is a play on the name of an opposition alliance called Otso diretso (Straight eight). Here is the official website of Otso Diretso. The Philippines held midterm elections on May 13, 2019. Here is an AFP report on the voting. AFP searched Patag's official Facebook page and found this photo from April 29, 2019. In the post, Patag is in the same pose, against the same background and wearing the same clothes, but the sign she is holding is in support of candidates from the Otso Diretso alliance. Below is a screenshot of the post: Screenshot of Facebook post The text on the poster translates to English as: VOTE STRAIGHT OTSODiRETSO (MATH GRAD). Makalintal. Alejano. Tanada. Hilbay. Gutoc. Roxas. Aquino. Diokno. Let’s bring Straight Eight to the Senate. FIGHT! Math grad refers to the phrase which is composed from putting together the first letter of the names of the candidates listed on the sign. The same group of candidates are listed in the same order on the Otso Diretso website here . Below is a screenshot of the eight candidates from the Otso Diretso website: Screenshot of opposition candidates AFP has previously debunked a similar claim that Patag had attacked opposition candidates.
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