At a glance

• Claim: Sister Mary John Mananzan of Scholastica’s College Manila said that the Aquino family was a bunch of corrupt anti-heroes, according to a quote card that circulated on Facebook.
• Rating: ALTERED PHOTO
• The facts: The graphic containing the claim was edited. Mananzan never said the quote attributed to her. In a statement in 2016, she used this description to refer to the Marcos family during the burial of its patriarch, Ferdinand Marcos, which sparked protests.
• Why we fact-checked this: Facebook’s monitoring tool flagged several posts of this altered graphic.

Complete details

A fake quote card circulated on Facebook that claimed Sister Mary John Mananzan of St. Scholastica’s College Manila said that the Aquino family was a bunch of corrupt anti-heroes.

“Talagang nakakagalit at nalkskalungkot (sic) ang ginawa ng Pamilyang Aquino. All of us know that he is not a hero. Ang pangungurakot, yung pag-aaresto ng mga tao, yung pagto-torture. Yun talaga ang lalabanan ng isang bayani, yung pagpatay ng mga tao, lahat yan ay anti-hero,” the graphic quoted Mananzan as saying.

(What the Aquino family did was really infuriating and upsetting. All of us know that he was not a hero. Corruption, illegal detention, torture – a true hero fights these things – murder, all of those are characteristics of an anti-hero.)

Facebook user Prince Edwin C. Marasigan shared the fake quote card in the Facebook group “GENERAL PARLADE JR MOVEMENT TO END INSURGENCY” on May 7.

This is false.

The quote card was edited, and Mananzan never said the statement attributed to her in the graphic. In a statement in 2016, she used this description to refer to the Marcos family, not the Aquinos.

A video uploaded in November 2016 by the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law, a coalition of Martial Law victims, showed Mananzan urging the public to protest the stealthy burial of the late dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, in the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

“Talagang nakakagalit at nakakalungkot ’yung ginawa ng pamilyang Marcos na lihim nilang ibinurol si Ferdinand Marcos na dating diktador ng Pilipinas sa Libingan ng mga Bayani. All of us know that he is not a hero. Ang pangungurakot, ’yung pag-aaresto ng mga tao, ’yung mga pagto-torture ng mga tao, ’yung pagpatay ng mga tao – lahat ’yan ay anti-hero. ’Yun ang mga talagang nilalabanan ng mga bayani,” Mananzan said.

(The Marcos family’s secret burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was really infuriating and upsetting. All of us know that he was not a hero. Corruption, illegal detainment, torture, murder – all of those are characteristics of an anti-hero. Those are what a true hero fights.)

A reverse image search of the fake quote card showed a graphic released by ABS-CBN News on November 24, 2020. It had the same photo of Mananzan, but the statement attributed to her was about her disapproval of red-tagging. (READ: From UN reports to Congress: The many times ‘red-tagging’ was used)

Claim Check, Facebook’s monitoring tool that identifies suspicious posts, flagged at least four posts containing the fake quote card for verification.

There were other false claims that targeted Mananzan in the past. In 2019, a fake quote card surfaced that claimed she called for the ouster of President Rodrigo Duterte. Another false quote that linked her to Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman Jose Maria “Joma” Sison also circulated in 2020. – Pauline Macaraeg/Rappler.com

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.