Senator Antonio Trillanes IV was allegedly abandoned by his audience in Zambales, claimed a blogspot site.
The source of the story, thephpride.blogspot.com, described it as “the most embarrassing moment” in Trillanes’ life as the crowd dispersed when he was about to talk on stage. The event? The website claimed it was an invitation by the Masinloc Fishermen Association (MFA) for the senator to be one of their resource speakers on the topic of sea laws and safety on June 10. The general assembly and workshop seminar involved over 60 fishermen from Iba and Masinloc towns in Zambales.
[ads2]
The story added that Trillanes was the last among the five resource speakers to get up on stage after a whole day of seminar and under warm weather. When he went up on stage to speak, people started leaving, said the story.
Trillanes was quoted saying, “I totally understand them. Siguro gutom na rin at mula pa raw sila alas nuebe ng umaga rito.”
Two fishermen were also said to have made the following statement against Trillanes:
[ads1]
“Paulit-ulit lang naman ang mga sinasabi niya. Nakaharap na naming siya dati, pumunta pa sa barangay naming, nangako na tulungan kami pero wala ring nangyari. Yan ay bago mag eleksyon.”
Trillanes was described to have grown frustrated and left eh venue with his convoy.
Based on the Facebook search results, the story has been shared over 51,000 times since it was published on June 11.
We checked the veracity of the story, starting with the “Masinloc Fishermen Association,” which only showed that it was carried by the source of the story and three other random blogs.
Could there really be a “Masinloc Fishermen Association”?
We also looked for other reports on how Trillanes’ alleged visit was to Zambales just this weekend, but we could not find any.
Now, we’ve grown more suspicious of the story as something did not add up.
Next, we checked the other stories published by thephpride.blogspot.com and found that it has posted several fake stories before. These include dubious stories such as UP student activists staging a protest to scrap the UP College Admission Test (UPCAT), actress Kim Chiu being stuck in Nepal after she was hypnotized by a monk admirer, SLEX to be renamed after actress/host Kris Aquino, and more.
The fact that the website carried such unbelievable stories made us think that it is a satirical news site, but its About page did not deliberately say so. Instead, it warned that “Pinoy Pride is not for gullible people.”
“By the way, this website is only intended for highly intelligent, smart, resourceful, and versatile people. This website is not intended for readers who are under 18 years old, and most importantly, Pinoy Pride is not gullible people,” its About page said.
Even its tagline says, “Tomorrow’s News Today,” making it look all the more like its stories should not be taken seriously.
Unfortunately, this suspicious story was already shared by several Facebook pages, which in turn, was shared by hundreds to thousands of Facebook users. These pages include “OFW GLOBAL MOVEMENT Supports President Rody Duterte,” “OFW GLOBAL MOVEMENT – Milan Italy Chapter,” “OFW Global Movement for Empowerment,” “OFW, Duterte, Federalism. Heroes United for Freedom.”
Even Paula Defensor-Knack, the younger sister of the late Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, shared it on both of her Facebook pages. She even lauded the Zambales residents for leaving Trillanes.
So, we’ll go ahead and say that the story about Trillanes being abandoned by the crowd in Zambales when he was about to speak is fake news. There are no other reports that could confirm the event that Trillanes was said to have been invited to, or even the association that allegedly invited him. Moreover, the blogspot source has published some fake stories before and even its About page has warned off gullible people from its website.
Be Informed. Beat the Trolls, Share the Truth!
[ads3]
