FALSE: Batac church puts up pink lights in support of Leni Robredo’s candidacy

At a glance

• Claim: A photo of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Batac City, Ilocos Norte, has circulated on social media in October, claiming that the church had put up pink lights as a subtle endorsement of the presidential candidacy of Vice Presidential Leni Robredo. The post says that the church turned into “radiant pink as it faces the dictator’s museum in Ilocos Norte.” Batac City is the hometown of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, the father of presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
• Rating: FALSE
• The facts: The church’s facade has been using the “dark pink” lights at night since 2016 after these were installed as part a reconstruction project, which expanded the city’s plaza to the front patio of the church.
• Why we fact-checked this: As of writing, the shared photo has garnered at least 2,443 shares, 4,581 likes, and 1,230 comments on Facebook. On Tiktok, a similar post from a user called The Sentinel has amassed at least 40,100 views, 973 reactions, and 502 comments.

Complete details

Several Facebook users and groups have been sharing a photo of the Immaculate Conception Parish (ICP) in Batac City, Ilocos Norte, lit up with pink lights. The captions of a number of these posts say the lights either indicate support for the presidential bid of Vice President Leni Robredo or are a rebuff of another presidential candidate, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

The ICP is in Batac City, Ilocos Norte, the hometown of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Bongbong served as Ilocos Norte governor.

As of writing, the shared photo has garnered at least 2,443 shares, 4,581 likes, and 1,230 comments on Facebook. On Tiktok, a similar post from a user called The Sentinel had amassed at least 40-thousand views, with 973 reactions and 502 comments.

The claim is false.

The ICP has been using those pink lights since 2016.

In a statement sent to Rappler on Tuesday, October 26, the church’s Team Ministry said the façade was lit with a “dark pink” color by the Batac city government as part of a reconstruction project almost five years ago. 

This was done “in preparation for the parochial fiesta and city month-long fiesta in 2016, after a portion of the church’s front patio was restructured to become part of the city plaza where they installed a fountain and fences were removed,” the statement read.

“Other accents were also added as embellishments,” it added.

Since then, the church glowed to a pink hue at night, fascinating both residents and tourists. 

Netizens also took the initiative to separately confirm the validity of the photo by sending a direct message to the ICP on Facebook. The church replied to the netizen and gave a similar explanation that the pink color of the church at night was only a “light effect.”

Mei Kriezl Ulit, a long-time Batac resident, told Rappler that she had always seen the church lit up to pink even before it was attributed to the elections.

“Unang naging parte ng Christmas decoration ‘yung pagpapailaw sa simbahan, at dahil maganda ang kinalabasan noong 2016, hindi na tinanggal,” said Ulit.

(The lights were first used as part of the church’s Christmas decoration, and since they looked good in 2016, they were not taken down anymore [after the season].)

The church reiterated that the color of the light was “not a sign of support nor political in meaning. It was never related to any political party nor any politician.”

Since the church’s color were “politicized,” Ulit said the pink lights had since been taken down.

“[The pink light of the Church] has been changed already,” a church official confirmed, saying only clear lights are used now.

Amid the controversy, the church reminded the public to “continue to spread peace and unity among our people.” – John Michael Mugas/Rappler.com

John Michael Mugas is a Luzon-based journalist and an awardee of the Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program here.

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