A Facebook (FB) page “dedicated to Filipinos rallying behind the leadership of Pres. Rody Duterte” misleadingly used a seven-month old quote of activist Sister Mary John Mananzan in a recent online poll.
DuterteSerye posted Dec.10 a poll using Mananzan’s quote card and asked its followers whether they would “join her call for People Power.”
The infographic posted contained the yes-no question:
“Online Poll: Ngayong nagtatawag ng People Power si Sister, sasama ka ba sa kaniya? (Online Poll: Now that Sister is calling for People Power, will you join her?)”
And the quote card of Mananzan:
“Ako, I’m really calling for People Power. Kung wala tayong maaasahan sa gobyerno, sino ang ating aasahan? Tayo po mismo. Kaya po let’s go, and again, ibalik po natin ang magic ng People Power (Me. I am really calling for People Power. If we cannot rely on the government, who should we rely on? It is only us. That is why let’s go, and again, bring back the magic of People Power).”
DuterteSerye used the months-old statement of Mananzan and passed it off as new.
The quote card was originally published May 21 by FB page Now You Know, “a civic media platform,” that carried content on the opposition Otso Diretso senatorial bets. Mananzan’s infographic contained her actual statement in a May 17 rally, where groups protested the “electoral fraud and anomalies” in the 2019 midterm elections.
Mananzan also spoke out against policies of the Duterte government, including the move to reimpose the death penalty.
The former president of St. Scholastica’s College in Manila was active in the protest movement against ex-president Ferdinand Marcos and was visible during the 1986 People Power Revolution that ousted the late dictator.
DuterteSerye’s misleading post surfaced a day after a collective of religious institutions named Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform released a statement calling for the resumption of peace talks between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. Mananzan was among the signatories of the statement.
Mananzan was also a target of false information online in May. (See VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Netizens post FAKE ‘quote’ of Sr. Mary John Mananzan)
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
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