As relations between the Philippines deteriorated Chairman Ferdinand Marcos and vice president Sara Dutertea manipulated news story surfaced in reports claiming that an ally of the powerful Duterte family topped a survey of favored candidates for the archipelago’s next presidential election in 2028. Broadcaster ABS-CBN denied publishing the alleged report, while polling firm Pulse Asia Research told AFP it had not conducted such research.
“Only Robin Padilla is this strong,” read a Tagalog message on TikTok on June 23, 2024.
Actor who became a senator Robin Padilla is a party companion of the vice president’s father, former president Rodrigo Duterte.
The video, more than viewed 200,000 times before it was removed, a report from the Philippine broadcaster appeared to show ABS-CBN.
It included a frame showing Padilla reportedly leading a “2028 Presidential Preference Survey” conducted by Pulse Asia from “June 18 to 22, 2024.”
The news was shared after Vice President Sara Duterte resigned as President Ferdinand Marcos’ cabinet member after tense relations between the two families escalated into a public rift.
Rodrigo Duterte and Marcos had a very public fightAs both families seek to shore up their rival bases and secure key positions ahead of the 2025 midterm elections and 2028 presidential election.
Marcos and Duterte jointly won a landslide victory in the May 2022 presidential and vice presidential elections.
Similar messages also circulated on Facebook here, here and here.
Made up report
Ronald Holmes, chairman of Pulse Asia Research, said his organization did not conduct the research shared in social media posts.
“We have never conducted a poll in which that senator’s name appeared as the top candidate. The report is fake,” he told AFP on July 2, 2024.
ABS-CBN News separately reported that the The circulating video was “false and fabricated,” a statement on the social media site X said (archived link).
Reverse image and keyword searches uncovered the original clip posted on ABS-CBN News’ verified TikTok account on April 5, 2024 (archived link).
The report was actually about a Pulse Asia Research survey conducted from March 6 to 10, 2024, which asked voters about their preference for the presidency in the 2028 elections.
According to the report, the survey found that Senator Raffy Tulfo and Vice President Sara Duterte were statistically tied.
The report found Padilla ranked sixth.
Below is a screenshot of a comparison between the fabricated survey results shared in the circulating posts (left) and the frame from the original news story (right):
Local news organizations Inquirer, GMA News and Rappler also reported on the survey results (archived links here, here and here).
AFP has previously fact-checked manipulated Philippine news reports, here, here and here.
