Fact checks on public officials

FALSE: 11 congressmen in favor of ABS-CBN franchise renewal bribed P200 million

Rappler.com

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FALSE: 11 congressmen in favor of ABS-CBN franchise renewal bribed P200 million
Nothing in the video and website that posted the claim confirms that the lawmakers accepted bribes
CLAIM:

The 11 congressmen who voted in favor of the renewal of the legislative franchise of broadcasting network ABS-CBN were bribed P200 million each.

This claim appeared in a blog post by website confession.cc on Monday, July 13. It was titled, “Kilalanin Ang Mga Nasuhulan Na Congressman Ng ABS-CBN, Php 200M Pala Ang Suhol Para Paboran Ang Kapamilya (Get to know the congressmen bribed by ABS-CBN. The bribe was P200 million to vote in favor of the network.)

The post embedded a video by YouTube channel PH BREAKING NEWS. The almost 12-minute video had the same title. It was uploaded on YouTube on Sunday, July 12.

In the body of the post, confession.cc further said: “Grabe talaga ang nagagawa ng pera. Kahit ano pwedeng bayaran, kahit mga nanunungkulan sa bayan kaya nitong tapatan. Tulad na lamang sa binulgar ng Youtube channel na PH BREAKING NEWS.”

(Money really can do a lot of things. Everything can be bought, even those who serve in government. Just like what YouTube channel PH BREAKING NEWS revealed.)

Claim Check, Facebook’s monitoring tool that identifies potentially dubious posts shared across the platform, flagged the blog post for fact checking. It was reported at least 4 times for containing false information.

As of writing, the blog post had been shared to Facebook 9 times based on CrowdTangle data. Meanwhile, the YouTube video had 27,767 views.

RATING: FALSE
THE FACTS:

There was nothing in the blog post and the video that confirmed the 11 congressmen each accepted a P200-million bribe from ABS-CBN.

The video uploaded by PH BREAKING NEWS was a clip from a live stream by blogger “Banat By” on July 12. House Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte and Carlos Munda, another blogger, were also in the live stream. The alleged bribe was mentioned twice in the video posted by PH BREAKING NEWS.

It was first brought up by Munda at the 2:27 mark. In passing, Munda said he thinks it’s possible for ABS-CBN to give bribes since it’s a big company. He then went on to ask Villafuerte a question about Malacañang’s involvement in the issue.

The next mention of the bribe was around the 6-minute mark when Munda read a comment from one of their listeners asking if Congress is investigating ACT-CIS representative Eric Yap’s allegation that an “emissary of ABS-CBN” tried to bribe him with P200 million to vote for the renewal of the network’s franchise.

Villafuerte responded, “I think discussion po ‘yan ni Congressman [Jose Antonio Sy-] Alvarado. Pero (But) I think it’s a matter that has to be discussed also at the right time.” No other mention of the alleged bribe was made afterwards.

Yap, who made the claim about a bribery a day before lawmakers rejected ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal, has also clarified that he allegedly received the phone call two weeks prior but he chose not to disclose it at that time because even he wasn’t sure that the person on the other line was really from ABS-CBN.

“Did I release this to the media? No, because I am not sure if the person is really ABS-CBN’s emissary, and it is unfair that ABS-CBN’s name is placed in jeopardy and also unfair to the proceedings of the joint committee that is discussing the franchise issue,” the Inquirer quoted Yap as saying.

ABS-CBN also denied bribing lawmakers.

The House committee on legislative franchises rejected the bills seeking to grant a new franchise to ABS-CBN on Friday, July 10. Among the members, 70 voted against the network, 11 voted for it, and 3 inhibited. – Pauline Macaraeg/Rappler.com

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