FALSE: Malacañang proves Bongbong Marcos won VP election

At a glance:

• Claim: Malacañang proves that Marcos won the 2016 vice presidential election.
• Rating: FALSE
• The facts: The Supreme Court dismissed Marcos’ electoral protest in February 2021 and Malacañang Palace has not released any evidence relating to the protest; the Palace maintained that it respects the unanimous decision of the Court to junk the protest. 
• Why we fact-checked this: The Youtube videos with these claims have a combined total of 278,956 views. 

Complete details:

On April 21 and 22, Youtube channel “PHILIPPINES TRENDING NEWS” uploaded two videos claiming that the Malacañang Palace (Office of the President) has proven and submitted evidence that former senator Bongbong Marcos won the 2016 vice presidential elections. As of Tuesday, April 27, the videos had a combined total of 278,956 views. 

The videos contain excerpts from a 2018 Facebook Live video where Marcos discusses his electoral protest against Vice President Leni Robredo with blogger Rey Joseph “RJ” Nieto, also known as “Thinking Pinoy” on Facebook. In the videos, Marcos talks about updates on his electoral protest. Marcos does not make mention of any supposed evidence in his favor from Malacañang.

One of videos was titled “JUST IN : PRES DUTERTE GOODNEWS MULA sa MALACAÑANG PINATUNAYAN MARCOS TUNAY na VP/LENI NAIYAK RESIGN.” (Just in: President [Rodrigo] Duterte good news from Malacañang proves that Marcos is the real vice president, Leni [Robredo] cries and resigns.)

These claims are false.

Sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), the Supreme Court dismissed Marcos’ 2016 electoral protest in February 2021 and Malacañang Palace has not released any evidence related to it – and it shouldn’t, since it’s not a party to the case. The Palace in fact said it respects the unanimous decision of the Court to junk the protest. 

According to the ruling released by the PET, Marcos failed to provide evidence for fraud and did not sufficiently justify the annulment of elections in Lanao del Sur, Basilan, and Maguindanao – the 3rd and final cause of action in his filed protest. The PET said that even if elections in the 3 Mindanao provinces were annulled, Robredo would still lead by a 15,310 vote margin. 

Further, Malacañang’s stand on the matter was relayed by Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque who said: “That is the decision of the Supreme Court. We respect that and we respect also that the camp of Senator Bongbong Marcos has a further remedy of moving for reconsideration.”  – Therese Litonjua/Rappler.com

This article was written by a Rappler volunteer or intern and reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s internship program here.

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.