Online news site Rappler issued a denial on its official Facebook page about publishing a story that Senator Antonio Trillanes IV visited Marawi City and defeated the Maute terrorists.
“Rappler never published a story about Senator Antonio Trillanes IV fighting terrorists in Marawi City,” it wrote.
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Rappler also warned the readers about the Facebook page “OFW Global Movement Supports President Rody Duterte” for spreading fake news about them.
Pertaining to the screenshot that the said Facebook page uploaded, Rappler wrote: “The supposed screenshot was (very poorly) fabricated to mislead the public. #FactsGanern.”
We checked the Duterte fan page itself and found this:
“OFW Global Movement Supports President Rody Duterte” tried to make it seem as though it was Rappler that posted that “Trillanes went in to Marawi Warzone and singlehanded defeated the Maute Leaders.”
It even attributed a quote to Trillanes that that supposedly said:
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“I know it was a suicide mission but my courage is strengthened for my love for the Filipino people. I went in and proved that President Duterte is a coward. If you declare war you must be prepared to fight the war yourself.”
The screenshot that the Duterte fan page posted even showed photos of the dead bodies of terrorist leaders Omar Maute and Isnilon Hapilon, along with a photo of Trillanes.
The Facebook page’s post has already been shared over 300 times with commenters bashing Rappler for reporting the fake story.
But there were also some commenters on the post who called the page’s admin out for posting fake news that might embarrass the rest of the Duterte supporters.
“I don’t like Trillanes, but in fairness, this “rappler news” is fake. The whole piece is fake including the alleged source which is rappler. Wag naman sana ganyan, nasisira ang integrity natin mga PRRD supporters….,” one commenter wrote.
Rappler has been repeatedly accused of being biased and for reporting fake news. When Communications Asec. Mocha Uson called out Rappler in August 2017 for spreading fake news about how President Rodrigo Duterte was going to appoint Nikki Prieto-Teodoro as the next DSWD secretary, Rappler took the story down with an apology.
“Rappler apologizes for mistakenly publishing a draft of a story that was still being verified,” Rappler tweeted.
But with this claim from the OFW fan page claiming to support President Duterte, Rappler was right. It was quite easy to tell that the screenshot was fake because it was “very poorly” made.
Scanning Meme Buster’s list of debunked articles, we found out that this fake story is not the first one from “OFW Global Movement Supports President Rody Duterte.” The Facebook page also shared fake stories about the CBCP asking mom of abused minor to forgive the priest, Zambales crowd abandoning Trillanes, the US embassy denying Trillanes’ visa application, Trillanes vowing to mobilize opposition to stage a hunger strike for Senator Leila de Lima’s freedom, de Lima crying after being kicked out in Germany, and US President Donald Trump wanting to be like Duterte.
The Facebook fan page also posted the fake photos of Senator Risa Hontiveros holding up a #PrayForMaute sign and used 2014 and 2015 photos to show that September 21 protesters recruited by the Liberal Party and Bayan were stranded at the Batangas port.
All these proved that the admins of the page “OFW Global Movement Supports President Rody Duterte” do not even bother to check and double-check the veracity of the articles that they are sharing, which meant that its followers must be cautious in buying the stories that they post on their page. Otherwise, they might fall victim to fake news.
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