Facebook (FB) page Life Goes On, which regularly posts content critical of the opposition, published Nov. 22 a photo insinuating that Vice President Leni Robredo is to be blamed for a cop’s death.
The 20-day old FB page posted a collage composed of:
- The front page of Sun Star Cebu’s Nov. 22 issue with the banner headline “PNP OFFICER DIES IN BRAZEN ATTACK”
- A photo of Robredo first used in 2018 by The Philippine Star. Placed beside the vice president’s face is the quote:
“‘Ang kalaban natin, droga, hindi tao…’ Kaya wag sasaktan ang mga druglords at pushers (Our enemy is illegal drugs, not the people…That is why we should not hurt the druglords and pushers)”
Life Goes On then captioned the collage with, “Condolence to the family of the police officer who was killed for leading the raids on drug suspects…”
Sun Star’s story featured the death of Philippine National Police (PNP) Lieutenant Colonel Joie Pacito Yape Jr., a former intelligence chief of the Cebu Provincial Police. He was gunned down by unidentified suspects in Cebu City, Nov. 21.
While the misleading quote card appears to suggest that the entire statement came from the vice president, it is only the sentence in quotation marks that she actually uttered. Robredo made the remarks during a Nov. 21 speech at the third anniversary of Bahay Pagbabago in Dinalupihan, Bataan:
“Kahapon, anniversary ko din, Mayor. Pangalawang linggo sa bago kong assignment kahapon. Kaya eto, unang araw ng pangatlo kong linggo. Pero, pag-upo ko pa lang, sinasabi ko na na ang aking paniniwala, ang kalaban natin droga, hindi tao. Dahil droga ‘yung ating kalaban, laban natin ito lahat. Hindi ‘to laban nung nagkamali. Hindi laban ng pamilya niya lang, pero laban nating lahat.”
(Yesterday, it was also my anniversary, Mayor. Yesterday marked my second week in my new assignment. Today is the first day of my third week. But, as soon as I assumed office, I have already declared my belief, that our enemy is illegal drugs, not the people. Because this is a fight against illegal drugs, this is everyone’s fight. This is not a fight of the person who made the mistake. This is not a fight of only their families, but a fight of everyone of us.)
Robredo never said in her speech that drug lords and drug pushers “should not be hurt.” No legitimate media organization reported such pronouncement by the vice president in any of her other speeches or interviews.
Life Goes On’s misleading post was shared by FB netizens 16 days after Robredo became co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Illegal Drugs (ICAD). It got around a thousand reactions and was shared 7,500 times.
Robredo’s appointment as anti-drug czar was short-lived. She was fired by President Rodrigo Duterte from the post last Sunday, Nov 24, before she could even carry out reforms in the government’s campaign against illegal drugs.
This is the third viral FB post related to the vice president’s 19-day stint as ICAD co-chair which VERA Files has flagged as disinformation. (See VERA FILES FACT CHECK: No, Robredo DID NOT ban guns in anti-drug police raidsand VERA FILES FACT CHECK: FB posts spread FAKE Leni quote on gun ban in anti-drug ops)
(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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