A controversial statement about Filipino nurses made by reelectionist Sen. Cynthia Villar in 2013 has resurfaced online.
On Feb. 8, a Facebook user posted in the public group Democratic WARRIORS an infographic of then candidate Villar which featured the text of her February 2013 statement on why she thinks nurses need not earn a degree. This was juxtaposed with another image, a March 2013 reaction from a nurse named Alvin Dakis with a superimposed text, “NILAIT ANG FILIPINO NURSE (Filipino nurses were insulted).”
A reverse image search traces the original infographic with no superimposed text to Dakis’ 2013 blog post. He said then, that he also only saw the image on the internet.
The post is misleading. It did not indicate the date Villar and Dakis’s statements were made—making the issue seem like new.
Villar’s controversial remark came from a 2013 GMA Network senatorial debate where she was asked about her alleged intervention in favor of nursing schools that the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) had wanted closed. She was then running under administration slate Team PNoy.
Villar publicly apologized for her remark days after it drew the ire of nurses:
“Taos-puso po akong humihingi ng paumanhin sa lahat ng mga nurse at kani-kanilang pamilya na labis na nasaktan sa aking kasagutan sa tanong na ibinato sa akin sa isang programa sa TV (I sincerely apologize to all nurses and their families who were deeply hurt by my answers to questions thrown to me during a TV program).”
Source: Twitter.com, @Cynthia_Villar, March 3, 2013
The Facebook user’s post has had more than 3,000 interactions on social media and could have reached almost 95,000 people. Democratic WARRIORS was created in May 2016 and has more than 23,000 members.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
(VERA Files is a part of Tsek.ph, a collaborative fact-checking initiative by the academe and the media for the 2019 Philippine midterm elections.)
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