FACT-CHECK: Fake details on priest’s wallet with ‘2 condoms’

Claim: Police supposedly recovered from a pickpocket a wallet owned by Father Raul Cabonce, which contained two condoms.

The blog philnewscourier.blogspot.com, in its June 17 post, ran the headline, “Police Finds two Condoms Inside Priest’s Wallet, Recovered From Pickpocket.”

According to the blog post, 35-year-old Joey Kana was arrested for snatching in Quiapo, Manila, on June 17. The arresting officer, Senior Police Officer 4 Augusto Dimayuga of Manila Police District Station 3, is said to have recovered 8 wallets from Kana. One of these wallets contained two Durex condoms, as the embedded image in the post suggests, supposedly belonging to Father Raul Cabonce of Butuan City.

As of June 22, the post was shared by or with 5 Facebook groups and two Facebook pages, which accounted for a total 416,890 and 634 interactions.

The claim was also published by newspaperph.com and blogs.trendolizer.com.

Rating: FALSE

The facts: Some details were lifted from a 2011 sexual harassment report, but many other details are fabricated.

Police Superintendent Julius Caesar Domingo of Manila Police District Station 3 told Rappler via text that an SPO4 Augusto Dimayuga does not exist in their roster. No Joey Kana was arrested and no snatching case was recorded on June 17.

The blog included an image of a wallet that supposedly belonged to Father Cabonce, but it did not show proof of an ID in the wallet that would back up this claim.

While the other details were faked, Cabonce is a real person. According to an August 28, 2011, GMA News report, the then Saint Anne parish priest was accused of raping an 18-year old domestic helper in Tubay, Agusan del Norte. Cabonce was discharged from his post and put under the handling of then Butuan Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos. The blog mentioned Cabonce’s background in its last paragraph and said the priest has been reassigned to an “unnamed” province in Luzon.

Rappler contacted the Diocese of Butuan, but they have yet to give a reply to our query on the status of the priest.

The post was written by a certain “Renato Pasayo” was listed as the post’s author, same with the newspaperph.com post.

Be wary of fake news related to timely topics. The post may have been written in connection to President Rodrigo Duterte’s tirades against the Catholic Church, while 3 priests have been killed since December 2017. (READ: ‘They are killing our flock. They are killing us shepherds.’)

The blog philnewscourier.blogspot.com, whose most recent post is about 12 priests being reassigned after Duterte “threatened to expose church scandal,: does not have a company profile, editorial board, and contact details – a few of the many attributes of “fake news” blogs. (READ: 10 tips on how to spot fake news from Facebook). – Miguel Imperial/Rappler.com

If you suspect a Facebook page, group, account, a website, or an article is spreading false information, let Rappler know by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.