Claim:
The mainstream media did not report on the 274 malversation cases filed against former president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, and Senator Franklin Drilon.
This claim was flagged on Tuesday, September 15, as potentially misleading by Facebook’s fact checking tool Claim Check. It was reported 88 times by users and has 11,000 reactions, 2,600 comments, and 87,000 shares as of writing.
Rating: FALSE
The facts:
At least 3 mainstream media outlets reported on the 274 counts of malversation filed against Aquino, Trillanes, and Drilon in October 2018.
The Facebook page “Paglilinaw” posted a screenshot on March 25, 2019 of a blog post on the malversation complaints and said in the caption: “Ibinalita ba nila ang 274 malversation cases, non-bailable na isinampa kay Noynoy Aquino, Trillanes, Drillon (sic), at iba pa sa mainstream media? Hindi! Dahil ang ABS-CBN ay hawak ng Liberal Party. Ang mga bias na media na mga bayaran.”
(Did the mainstream media report on the 274 non-bailable malversation cases filed against Noynoy Aquino, Trillanes, Drilon, etc? No! Because the Liberal Party controls ABS-CBN. The biased media that are corrupt.)
ABS-CBN did publish a report on the malversation complaints on October 15, 2018. Their article, titled “Group files malversation complaints vs Aquino, allies over DAP (Disbursement Acceleration Program)” was written by reporter Adrian Ayalin.
It was also reported by The Philippine Star. Their article was published online on Philstar.com on October 16, 2018.
CNN Philippines published an article on the malversation complaints on October 15, 2018, but only reported 272 counts, not 274.
On October 15, 2018, Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission Greco Belgica filed before the Office of the Ombudsman 274 counts of malversation through conspiracy for their alleged involvement in the DAP.
Mainstream news media like Rappler have also been covering the DAP issue even before it was first declared by the Supreme Court unconstitutional in 2014. – Vernise Tantuco/Rappler.com
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