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  • 2021-10-21 (xsd:date)
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  • Old video does not show Philippines vice president 'admitting election offence' (en)
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  • A video of Philippines Vice President Leni Robredo, who is running for president in 2022, has circulated on social media alongside a claim that she violated election rules by accepting campaign donations into her personal bank account. However, the claim is misleading. The footage has been taken from a 2016 interview in which Robredo discussed donations that had been made legally during her bid for the vice presidency. The video was shared here on TikTok on October 12, 2021. The clip shows Robredo saying: There were many people who donated [funds] that I deposited into my personal account. The video then switches to a shot of election regulations as the narrator claims: If a candidate accepts any form of financial contribution donation, it is [a] ground for disqualification. The sticker text in the TikTok reads: So is this someone who is not corrupt? Screenshot of the misleading post taken on October 19, 2021 The misleading clip first appeared online in July 2021. It recirculated after Robredo formally announced on October 7, 2021, that she would run for president in 2022. Similar videos were also shared on Facebook here and here , on Twitter here , and on TikTok here . Comments on the posts show users believed Robredo previously broke election rules. She admitted she’s guilty. Why wasn’t the law applied to her when it clearly says candidates are not allowed to receive campaign donations? one user wrote. She broke the rules but she was not disqualified? AMAZING?? another commented. However, the claim is misleading. Keyword searches found the video clip has been misrepresented from a longer interview that Robredo gave in 2016. In the interview, Robredo -- who was running for vice president at the time -- was asked how much she declared in her annual statement of wealth following calls for transparency among election candidates. The original video shows Robredo explaining that she had to disclose campaign donations deposited into her personal account as part of her declaration. When I filed my certificate of candidacy in October, there were many people who donated [funds] that I deposited into my personal account , so I had to declare that as well, she said at the three-minute 42-second mark. The misleading video removed the context about the donations being part of Robredo's declaration of wealth. Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading posts (L) and its corresponding frame from the original video (R): The misleading video also misquotes part of the Philippine Constitution. It says Article IX-C Section 2 (5) prohibits candidates from receiving any form of financial contribution. In fact, the provision only forbids candidates from soliciting or receiving financial donations from foreign governments and their agencies. Below is a screenshot of the rule: James Jimenez, Commission on Elections (COMELEC) spokesperson, said that depositing campaign donations into personal accounts did not constitute an electoral offence. There are no rules regarding where funds raised ought to be deposited. If at all, this should be an issue between the candidate and their campaign contributors, Jimenez told AFP on October 20. This is not, therefore, subject to COMELEC regulation. (en)
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