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Pro-Marcos misinformation targets main rival Robredo

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="This composite image shows presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. greeting supporters in Batangas on April 20, 2022, and rival Vice President Leni Robredo joining a Comelec debate on April 3, 2022. Jonathan Cellona and Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/news/05/06/bongbong-marcos-leni-robredo.jpg"/><figcaption>This composite image shows presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. greeting supporters in Batangas on April 20, 2022, and rival Vice President Leni Robredo joining a Comelec debate on April 3, 2022. <em>Jonathan Cellona and Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA — The son and namesake of the Philippines&#x27; late dictator Ferdinand Marcos is on track to win Monday&#x27;s presidential poll, after a massive misinformation campaign whitewashed the family&#x27;s past and smeared his main rival.</p><p>Leni Robredo, the incumbent vice president, is the last obstacle to the controversial clan achieving their goal of returning to the presidential palace they fled in disgrace in 1986 following a popular uprising.</p><p>Social media groups supporting Ferdinand Marcos Jr&#x27;s bid for the top job have bombarded Filipinos with false and misleading posts about Robredo on platforms where they rank among the world&#x27;s heaviest users.</p><p>A string of doctored photos and videos viewed tens of thousands of times have sought to portray Robredo, 57, as stupid, unfriendly towards voters, and a communist.</p><p>Dozens of other bogus claims targeting her have flooded social media.</p><p>Here are the 5 most shared posts debunked by AFP: </p><div><strong>BUNGLED INTERVIEW</strong></div><p>Pro-Marcos accounts that have sought to discredit Robredo as unintelligent and cold-hearted have had a huge impact online.</p><p>A clip from an interview with a Filipino journalist back in December 2016 shows Robredo looking baffled by a question over allegations she cheated Marcos Jr.</p><p>Robredo came from behind to narrowly beat Marcos Jr for the Philippines vice presidency that year -- which he then spent 5 years trying in vain to overturn. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/16/21/sc-junks-bongbong-marcos-poll-protest-vs-vice-president-robredo-source">SC junks Bongbong Marcos&#x27; poll protest vs Vice President Robredo</a></li></ul><p>The clip was posted on Facebook on Feb. 19, less than 2 weeks after the presidential election campaign season kicked off, and has been viewed more than 78,000 times.</p><p>Similar posts were uncovered by AFP Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and TikTok.</p><p>AFP fact checkers debunked the posts, reporting that portions of the original interview with news program TV Patrol had been omitted. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/05/05/22/fact-check-hindi-totoong-dinaya-ni-vp-leni-robredo-si-bongbong-marcos-noong-2016">FACT CHECK: Hindi totoong dinaya ni VP Leni Robredo si Bongbong Marcos noong 2016</a></li></ul><div><strong>LEGAL CAREER</strong></div><p>Before entering politics in 2013, Robredo worked as a lawyer for more than a decade representing battered women and poor farmers.</p><p>But a post on a pro-Marcos Facebook page in March quoted the Public Attorney&#x27;s Office as saying she had &quot;handled zero cases&quot;.</p><p>It was shared hundreds of times by the account named &quot;Bbm-Sara Around the World 2022&quot; that has 24,500 followers. </p><p>&quot;So that&#x27;s why she has a clean record... literally no cases,&quot; one user wrote.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/04/12/22/fact-check-robredo-di-abogado-ng-sumilao-farmers">FACT CHECK: Mali ang paratang na &#x27;di naging abogado ng Sumilao farmers si Robredo</a></li></ul><p>The Facebook page features a manipulated header image of Marcos Jr and his running mate Sara Duterte wearing military hats, with a Philippine flag and cartoon-like images of a tiger and an eagle in the background.</p><p>The government&#x27;s law office told AFP fact checkers it did not issue the statement. </p><div><strong>&#x27;SECRET HUSBAND&#x27;</strong></div><p>Even Robredo&#x27;s personal life has been the target of misinformation following the death of her husband.</p><p>Jesse Robredo, a respected Cabinet member in former President Benigno Aquino&#x27;s administration, died in a plane crash in 2012.</p><p>Since Robredo won the vice presidency in 2016, a photo has circulated in false posts claiming it shows her with a &quot;secret first husband&quot; who &quot;also died in a mysterious plane crash&quot;.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/14/22/robredo-debunks-lie-she-married-rebel-at-15">Robredo debunks lies she married CPP-NPA rebel when she was 15</a></li></ul><p>A Filipino couple living in the northern province of Pampanga told AFP fact checkers it was their wedding photo that was being shared.</p><p>&quot;I wish people would respect other people&#x27;s privacy,&quot; husband Daniel Canlas said.</p><div><strong>&#x27;LEAKED BALLOT&#x27;</strong></div><p>Marcos supporters have repeatedly accused Robredo of voter fraud since the 2016 vice presidential contest -- and even alleged that the national election agency was involved. </p><p>Pro-Marcos accounts claimed that a video posted on Facebook and TikTok showed a leaked ballot paper, which they said proved the Commission on Elections had cheated for Robredo. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/11/27/20/the-marcoses-a-history-of-rejecting-election-defeats">The Marcoses: A history of rejecting election defeats</a></li></ul><p>The video was viewed more than a million times.</p><p>But a commission spokesman told AFP that the document, which was missing various features included on official election ballots, was only a sample.</p><div><strong>WRONGLY COUNTED VOTE</strong></div><p>After Filipinos living overseas began voting in April, a video showing a woman in Hong Kong complaining that her vote for Marcos Jr had been wrongly counted for Robredo went viral.</p><p>The clip was viewed tens of thousands of times on Facebook, but an AFP investigation found it had been doctored.</p><p>There was no mention of Robredo in the unedited version of the video, which had been circulating online since at least 2016.</p><p>The Commission on Elections told AFP it had not received complaints of wrongly counted votes during early overseas voting this year.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/24/22/publishing-false-reports-cant-become-the-norm-robredo-camp">Robredo camp eyes legal action vs false report about Joma as her adviser</a></li></ul><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; 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Online groups supporting Bongbong Marcos Jr's bid for the top job have bombarded Filipinos with false and misleading posts about VP Leni Robredo.