FALSE: Leni Robredo ‘ready’ to take over presidency

Claim: Vice President Leni Robredo is “ready” to replace President Rodrigo Duterte since he only has a few supporters left.

Facebook page Alon Calinao Dy posted on July 3, 2019 a photo of Robredo standing behind a podium. The superimposed text attributed to “Leni Robredo” says: “Kakaunting porsyento na lamang ang taga-suporta ng administrasyong Duterte. Nakahanda na ako na maging pangulo ng bansa. (The Duterte administration has only a few supporters left. I am ready to become the president of the country.)”

The post got over 2,100 reactions and 1,700 comments as of writing and had also been shared all over the platform 952 times.

Rappler found a similar and earlier version of the claim in Facebook group TATAK NG PAGBABAGO posted on October 7, 2018. The post had only 10 shares, 4 reactions, and two comments.

Rating: FALSE

The facts: Vice President Leni Robredo did not make any statement saying she’s ready to replace Duterte because of his decreasing number of supporters.

There were no reports made about it and search engine Google yielded no records of the supposed quote from Robredo included in the post.

This was confirmed by the Office of the Vice President through media officer Kat Guerrero, who said that Robredo made no such statement upon cross-checking all the transcripts of the Vice President’s speeches and interviews.

Rappler also reached out to the Alon Calinao Dy page and Jepry Olasiman, the Facebook user who posted on the TATAK NG PAGBABAGO group, to ask for the source of their posts. Both accounts have not provided the basis of the content they shared.

The post circulated in the first week of July amid news of possible impeachment raps against Duterte following the boat sinking incident at Recto Bank. The President reacted to this by saying he’ll jail those who try to impeach him. (READ: DOJ: Impeachment case filers vs Duterte can’t be arrested)

Robredo then said in her weekly radio show “BISErbisyong Leni” that while the President feels confident that the impeachment process will not move forward because of his so-called “supermajority” in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, members of the minority should not be discouraged. There was no mention of her being ready to take over the presidency during the entire one-hour program.

The Palace, for its part, maintained that the President has not committed any impeachable offense.

The Vice President has been a frequent target of misleading or false information on social media. In 2018, Rappler fact-checked 7 dubious claims that had the vice president as the subject, making her the 5th personality most attacked by disinformation. – Pauline Macaraeg/Rappler.com

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