At a glance

• Claim: Vice President Leni Robredo spent half a billion pesos for her 2022 campaign ads, yet still seeks cash donations to buy food for disaster victims.
• Rating: FALSE
• The facts: Vice President Leni Robredo has not yet released any funding info for her 2022 presidential campaign as of Thursday, December 30. There is available data on the candidates’ election spending so far, but the amount she has spent as of December 2021 has not reached half a billion pesos.
• Why we fact-checked this: A Facebook post containing this claim has 205 shares and 138 comments as of writing. A similar tweet also has 708 likes, 187 quote tweets, and 267 retweets on Twitter.

Complete details

A tweet posted on December 27, 2021, contains text beside a photo of Robredo claiming that she has spent “half a billion” for advertising ahead of the 2022 elections, and is still asking for money to buy rice and sardines for disaster victims. The tweet includes the hashtag “NoToLeniKiko2022.”

A reply to the original tweet by the same user shows a Facebook page named SWORD TV Broadcasting Philippines, which posted the same image on December 21.

As of writing, the tweet has 708 likes, 187 quote tweets, and 267 retweets, while the post on the Facebook page has amassed 138 comments and 205 shares. The page itself has 48,360 likes and 107,204 followers.

This is false.

Vice President Leni Robredo has not yet released any funding information for her 2022 presidential campaign as of Thursday, December 30. There is available data on the candidates’ election spending so far, but the amount that Robredo has spent as of December 2021 has not reached half a billion.

A November 21 report from News5 showed that Robredo has spent P3.99 million on Facebook ads about social issues, elections, or politics from August 4 to November 21.

Meanwhile, a report from the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism said that Robredo spent ads on traditional media worth P120 million, from January to September 2021.

The Facebook Ads Library data on Robredo’s verified page also show that its advertisements about social issues, elections, or politics were paid for by two other organizations: Supporters of Leni Robredo, and Dapat Si Leni.

Supporters of Leni Robredo spent P4,283,677, while Dapat si Leni spent P6,596,629 in Facebook advertising as of December 26, for a total of P10,880,306.

Robredo did spend almost half a billion pesos for campaigns, but it was for the 2016 elections and not the 2022 general elections. Though she was the biggest spender among vice presidential candidates in 2016 by spending P418,664,130.60, she received P423,163,737.34 in contributions. She also did not overspend.

Meanwhile, cash donations for the victims of Typhoon Odette being collected by the OVP are channeled through Tanging Yaman Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit based at the Ateneo De Manila University.

As of 9:16 pm on December 28, the foundation has collected P33,582,104.54 in cash donations for Typhoon Odette victims according to the Robredo People’s Council. – Joseph B.A. Marzan/Rappler.com

Joseph B.A. Marzan is a Visayas-based journalist from Iloilo City and is a recipient of the Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship.