A quote card of Ilocos Norte congressional aspirant Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos saying his family can win in the upcoming elections even without attending “any interview, debate or public meeting” is satire.
The graphic started circulating on Feb. 5 and featured a photo of the young Marcos, son of presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., as he supposedly delivered the following statement: “My father can win this election without campagining [sic]. The same goes with me and any Marcos who are running for elective positions this 2022 election. We do not need to attend any interview, debate, or public meeting to win any election in any given time. The MARCOS name is already enough to make us win.”
It also bore the logos of United States-based media organizations NBC, CNN, NPR, Fox News, CBS News, and ABC, as well as the United Kingdom’s BBC.
Marcos never made the statement. No media outlet published or aired such a remark and attributed it to him.
On the lower right corner of the satiric quote card was the text “Satire only.”
However, several Facebook (FB) pages, groups, and netizens have shared the graphic taking it as truth, and criticized Sandro for being “arrogant” and a “liar.” Some copies of the image have also circulated but with the “Satire” disclaimer cropped.
The fabricated quote card manipulated one that was actually published by News5 on FB last Sept. 14, when Marcos announced he was gunning for the congressional seat of Ilocos Norte’s first district.
On Feb. 6, the media organization issued an advisory about the bogus claim and encouraged netizens to be more “critical” in consuming information on social media.
The altered graphic spread after the young Marcos’ father Bongbong declined to participate in the Feb. 4 presidential forum organized by the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, citing a scheduling conflict.
It is not the first time the older Marcos refused an interview ahead of the May polls. He previously skipped a one-on-one interview with journalist Jessica Soho, claiming she was “biased.”
The revised quote card was published by several netizens and garnered more than 1,998 reactions, 912 comments, and 624 shares.
It was also published and shared by at least 50 other FB groups and pages and has garnered more than 3,700 interactions collectively according to social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle. Its top traffic generators are FB groups LABAN Senator Antonio Trillanes – Kakampi mo kami and ICC International Criminal Court and FB page Rizaleño.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)