At a glance

• Claim: Former president President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III died due to HIV.
• Rating: FALSE
• The facts: The Aquino family said in their official statement that the former president died of renal disease secondary to diabetes. Official news sources also reported that he had undergone medical procedures for his heart and renal problems since 2019.
• Why we fact-checked this: The video has over 125,000 views on YouTube, as of writing.

Complete details

A video posted on Saturday, June 26, by YouTube page “Showbiz Fanaticz” falsely claims that former president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III died due to the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV.

The video is titled: “Atty GADON, IBINULGAR na HINDI sa DIABETES Kundi sa H|V NAMATAY si PNOY| NETIZENS NAGULAT!!” (Atty. [Larry] Gadon revealed that PNOY died due to HIV, not diabetes. Netizens shocked!) 

Data from social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle show that the video has over 125,000 views and 1,100 comments on YouTube, as of writing.

This is false.

The Aquino family’s official statement said on June 24 that the former president died “due to renal disease secondary to diabetes.” The president had been battling numerous illnesses since 2019. 

Reports said Aquino had undergone several medical operations to treat his illnesses. These included dialysis for his diabetes and angioplasty in May 2021. The former president was also supposed to undergo a kidney transplant and was waiting for a compatible donor before his death. 

Days before his death, Aquino skipped two dialysis sessions. Aquino’s political affairs adviser Ronald Llamas said he took dialysis three times a week. (READ: FALSE: Noynoy Aquino’s death caused by lung cancer, cardiac arrest)

It can also be recalled that the former president was rushed to the Makati Medical Center in 2019. Questions about Aquino’s health started to appear after he failed to attend the commemoration of his father’s 31st death anniversary in August 2019.

The false video cited Gadon’s statement in the radio program of DWIZ radio, but hosts of DWIZ were quick to clarify that there was no confirmed cause of Aquino’s death at the time the program aired.

DWIZ has deleted the original recording of their interview with Gadon and has issued an apology over their guest’s remarks.  

Calls for Gadon’s disbarment using the hashtag #DisbarGadon trended on Twitter following Gadon’s interview. LGBTQ+ student group UP Babaylan and HIV advocacy group The Red Whistle led the calls, stating that Gadon violated the Philippine HIV Policy Act.

The law guarantees the confidentiality and privacy of HIV-related information, including the fact of HIV testing, actual, perceived, or suspected HIV infection or AIDS-related illnesses, and treatment of HIV-related illness. Violators of the law will be penalized by imprisonment of up to five years and a fine of up to Php350,000. – Lorenz Dantes Pasion/Rappler.com

Lorenz Dantes Pasion is a Rappler intern. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s internship program here.

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