HOAX: Gary Valenciano ‘dead’

Claim: “Mr. Pure Energy” Gary Valenciano “left a video” before passing away.

The blogs newsplustogo.info, newstoday-ph.info, tvnmss.com, and breezynetwork.info in their undated July posts carried this claim.

Rating: FALSE

The facts: Valenciano is still alive. In fact, he posted a tweet on his personal Twitter account on July 8.

In a teaser that aired on TV Patrol on July 6 of an interview with Korina Sanchez for her show Rated K, Valenciano revealed that after undergoing a heart bypass surgery in May, he found out he had kidney cancer but that his doctors “cleared him of the Big C” – a statement he also made during the interview with Sanchez.

He later announced this too on Twitter.

The first blog did not load any content, while the blog newstoday-ph.info included Rappler in its headline.

The last two blogs claimed Valenciano died specifically of diabetes.

The All 4 blog used a May 7 Umagang Kay Ganda TV report about Valenciano’s condition.

After a few seconds of playing the video, a Facebook share window encourages the user to share the post. The message field in the pop-up window automatically includes a “#RiPGARRYV” or “#paalamGaryV” hashtags.

Rappler has observed that these web pages hosted different content over time, and that these were shared on Facebook pages pertaining to students and vehicles, and on a parenting Reddit group.

These websites also hosted varying content such as a Claudine Baretto death hoax, a “win cash” promo, and a question about a parent’s baby climbing out of a crib. (READ: 10 tips on how to spot fake news from Facebook)

Rappler also checked previous death hoaxes pertaining to Jet Li and John Lloyd Cruz.

Celebrity and public official death hoaxes involving comedian Vice Ganda and former police chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa have likewise surfaced recently. – Miguel Imperial/Rappler.com

Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.