Senator Risa Hontiveros has been the target of several fake stories, some of which we have busted. This time, she is accused of preparing a bill to remove the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ name from Philippine history books.
In fact, it was even shared by a Duterte fan page called Rodrigo Duterte Support Page by Dr. Eli Alegado DRCPC, FACP. From the caption on the post itself, it seemed like the page’s admin seemed to believe in the article, too. It was captioned: “Can you just stop all these non sense. Hontiverus. First the tattoo, now the Marcoses.. Hontiverus, just move on.”
We’d like to point out, aside from how the admin spelled the senator’s surname wrong, they also made the mistake of sharing a fake article.
The article was published by Okd2, which is one of the websites we’ve noted for sharing “fictional” articles, as they have denoted in their disclaimer. It goes, “In very rare cases, Okd2.com may publish some fiction to entertain our readers.”
And this story about Hontiveros telling Radyo Agong that she is drafting a bill to keep Marcos’ name out of history books is not true. It also claimed that “Hontiveros changed her mind and may plan to recall all ‘Martial Law: Never Again’ books written by Raisa Robles.” Earlier, the senator donated 20 copies of the said book to Quezon City High School.
The article also quoted one source as saying: “Instead of distributing books, she said it will be better to tally erase Marcos’ name from the books so the people will totally forget him.” On top of that, the alleged source claimed that Hontiveros wanted to remove the dictator’s name from the list of Philippine presidents.
[ads1]
Another accusation? Hontiveros is supposedly preparing another bill to “legalize” activism in school and include it in high school curriculum.
All these claims are made up.
Hontiveros is pushing for telling more stories about Martial Law, hence her move to donate 20 “NeverAgain” books to high school students.
“The stories [in this book] are important. You may not have experienced martial law, but you would at least know about the blood, sweat and lives sacrificed for our democracy,” Hontiveros told the senior high school students during the books’ turnover on August 26.
Far from wanting to erase Marcos’ name from history, the senator instead wanted students, with the help of schools and educational institutions, to know more about the victims of martial law and their role in the country’s history.
“Given its significance to the country’s history, there is a need to not only acknowledge, honor, and commemorate the victims of martial law, but to pause, as well, for reflection upon the social, economic, and political conditions that allowed a dictatorship to take root and flourish in the Philippines. And lastly, work towards genuine reconciliation as a means of repairing the lingering divisions caused by 14 years of authoritarian rule on our society, institutions, and people,” Hontiveros said when she filed Joint Resolution No. 4, which calls on the government to declare September as national “truth-telling” month.
[ads2]
So, Okd2 has pulled off another fictional story about Hontiveros, just like how they made up fake stories about the senator proposing a bill to increase the salary of employed rallyists and protesters and how she planned on going on a hunger strike to protest the Supreme Court’s decision to allow Marcos a hero’s burial. Aside from Okd2, other blogs also made up fake stories about Hontiveros filing a bill for color coding MRT and LRT commuters or for covering up exposed tattoos in public.
Sources: (facebook.com, gmanetwork.com, newsinfo.inquirer.net, politics.com.ph)
Be Informed. Beat the Trolls, Share the Truth!
[ads3]
