Vice President Leni Robredo's camp has responded to a dubious social media post claiming that she has been disqualified from the May 2022 polls by pointing netizens to a Commission on Elections (Comelec) official's clarification on the fake news.
Lawyer Barry Gutierrez, Robredo’s spokesman, retweeted Comelec Spokesman James Jimenez’s Twitter post and added the hashtags #fightfakenews and #LabanLeni2022, the latter being the Vice President’s unofficial slogan for her 2022 presidential run.
“VP Leni Robredo has not been disqualified. Video and articles that imply or suggest otherwise are #fakenews. COMELEC's reminders on prohibited sources of funding apply to all would-be candidates. #fightfake,” Jimenez tweeted.
This was in response to a video by Cyber posting Philippines on Facebook, which said that Robredo had been disqualified after receiving foreign donations for her presidential campaign.
READ: 'Fake news': Comelec clarifies Robredo not disqualified in 2022 elections
The page used the tweet by Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon as a reference.
Last week, the commissioner retweeted a link to an ANC news article about Team Leni Robredo’s crowdfunding campaign and reminded the public that foreign donors are not allowed.
The crowdfunding was launched by volunteers and supporters of Robredo to source funds for her presidential bid.
A look into the donation page showed that supporters can donate between P50 to P20,000 provided that they tick a box pledging that they are either a Filipino citizen or dual citizen and that their donation “does not go against any election law prohibited contribution".
It noted also that the donation will be used for “volunteer, promotion, and operational activities and will not be remitted to the Office of the Vice President or Vice President Leni Robredo herself".
READ: 'People's campaign': Robredo supporters set up online donation portal
On Sunday, Oct. 17, Gutierrez questioned the motive of the attacks against Robredo, who other presidential aspirants have already belittled because of her poor showing in recemt surveys.
He said he’s baffled why they would attack the Vice President’s campaign as early as now when she has been lagging in presidential preference surveys.
But Robredo--despite having a measly 8 percent preference in the latest surveys--has triggered a snowball of support on social media ever since she announced her candidacy on Oct. 7.
Netizens' profile photos and news feeds turned pink—her official campaign color—and hashtags related to her candidacy trended the whole day.