Several Facebook pages have been sharing an article about SM Supermalls’ owner and Philippines’ richest men, Henry Sy, buying a private jet for President Rodrigo Duterte.
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The articles shared by newstrendph, Aljazeera-tv (not associated with Doha-based broadcaster Al Jazeera), news24-tv, and Favradio were all the same. However, these all seemed to have come from news24-tv.
The article described the Chinese-Filipino business magnate as the richest person in the Philippines, which is true, according to Forbes’ 2016 list of richest people in the Philippines. However, the article was wrong for saying that Forbes estimated Sy and his family’s net worth to be at $13.2 billion when it was actually $13.7 billion.
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It also claimed that Sy, who was born on Christmas Day, promised the $26-million Bombardier Global Express XRS jet with Rolls-Royce engines for Duterte as a “huge” surprise.
The article even quoted Duterte thanking Sy and saying this: “The nation thanks you. This is a jet for the Philippines. All officials are welcome to use.”
But the article only got the facts that Sy is 2016’s richest person in the Philippines and the name of the business jet right. The rest is all made up.
In fact, SM Supermalls released an official statement about this on October 22.
“Mr. Henry Sy has not bought any jet plane. He also was not born on Christmas day as the article says,” SM said in its official Facebook page’s Notes.
Moreover, newstv-24, as we checked its “About Us” page, actually turned out to be the rebranded site of DW-Tv3, which we have busted several times before for sharing fake news.
Be Informed. Beat the Trolls, Share the Truth!
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