After a TikTok video falsely depicting a nun of the Daughters of St. Paul endorsing presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. went viral, Marcos spokesperson Vic Rodriguez backed the nun’s request to have the TikTok post removed.
A clip of Sister Consolata Manding in a 2016 interview during the anniversary of the EDSA Revolution was used and taken out of context in the TikTok post labeled “Nuns of EDSA 1” to depict her alleged endorsement of Marcos’s presidential bid.
Rodriguez, a lawyer, released a statement on his Facebook page backing Manding’s request to have the video taken down.
“We fully support the plea of Sr. Manding, fsp, to have this irresponsible post taken down for being malicious and unfair and the only purpose for which the video was uploaded is to spread misinformation, sow hatred and further divisiveness,” Rodriguez said on Monday, March 21.
“We have taken the steps to report this video as misinformation. As victims of fake news ourselves, we sympathize with anyone whose words are deliberately taken out of context to pursue a political agenda,” the Marcos mouthpiece added.
During the 2016 interview, Sister Manding was quoted as saying, “There is no respect when you destroy somebody's personality and somebody's image. And I wish we have to learn not to, and instead tell people what things can be done, or if he did something wrong that is proven and say it, but always with respect.”
This was one of the quotes taken from Manding and used to promote Marcos’s campaign.
One detail from the TikTok video was true, though. During the 1986 EDSA Revolution, nuns of the Daughters of St. Paul prayed the rosary and stared down tanks of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. according to a Global Sisters Report from 2016.
Paulines MultiMedia PH then released a Youtube video last March 18 airing Manding’s plea to stop using her likeness without her permission.
“But what happens is they take a slice of that interview and then put it beside a picture of BBM and put it in TikTok and so of course, people who will see it will say ‘ay si Sister Consolata pala is endorsing BBM’ and I have received so many feedback from friends and colleagues here and abroad ‘oh so you are now endorsing.’ I said of course not! I said this is really unfair, I hope they will stop doing this,” Manding explained on March 18.
Meanwhile, the TikTok account that originally posted the video, “@atbp4,” can no longer be found on the site.