Inquirer’s report on shortage of armchairs at Jose Abad High School is true

Claim: The Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) published a false story that showed a shortage of armchairs at the Jose Abad Santos High School in Manila.

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The post containing the claim has over 16,089 views on YouTube, as of writing.

Reporter’s stand: Jane Bautista, the PDI reporter who posted the tweet on the “shortage of armchairs,” said she and her editors were standing by her story. 

Numbers don’t match: The PDI said in a report that it only counted “27 chairs and 43 students” in the classroom.  

The Department of Education National Capital Region (DepEd-NCR) said in an INQUIRER.net report that Jose Abad Santos High School had an “average of 51 chairs per classroom.”

Yet, Bautista tweeted, Jose Abad Santos High School principal Elena Reyes said there were enough armchairs, explaining that the teachers only “lacked the initiative” to get the extra chairs.

No mentions of a psychosocial activity: The PDI report also said that the teacher did not mention a “psychosocial activity,” which the Manila Public Information Office (PIO) and DepEd NCR claimed was the reason students were made to sit on the floor.

The Manila PIO even called PDI’s story “fake news” in a now-deleted post, an INQUIRER.net report said. 

The PDI report also said that the teacher “said yes” when asked if the students were on the floor because there were not enough chairs. 

Cannot be considered fake news: Nestor Reyes, president of the Jose Abad Santos High School Faculty and Employees Association (JASHSFEA), told Rappler via text message on August 24, 2022, that the armchair shortage at Jose Abad Santos High School is true.

“Hindi maituturing na fake news ang sitwasyong nakuhaan ng larawang kumakalat ngayon sa social media. Isa lang ito sa mga suliraning kinakaharap ng mga guro, bata, magulang, at school admin sa unang araw ng pasukan. Hindi lamang ito sa kasalukuyang kalagayan kundi kahit sa mga nagdaang panuruang taon. Mas malawak nating tingnan ang mga suliranin hindi sa pagpapakalat na ito ay fake news,” he said.

(The situation captured by the photos that are spreading on social media cannot be considered fake news. It’s just one of the problems that the teachers, students, parents, and school admin face on the first day of class. This did not just happen now but has been a problem in the previous school years. We should take a broader look at the problem instead of spreading that it is fake news.) – Lorenz Pasion/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. You may also report dubious claims to #FactsFirstPH tipline by messaging Rappler on Facebook or Newsbreak via Twitter direct message. You may also report through our Viber fact check chatbot. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.