No, former Philippine president Benigno Aquino III has not been arrested for graft
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on July 27, 2018 at 07:00
- 2 min read
- By AFP Philippines
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This online report, which appeared on Facebook on July 17, 2018, says Aquino was arrested.
When the report was shared on Facebook it had a headline in Filipino that translates to: “Noynoy Aquino has been arrested, he is in jail for a graft case”.
Clicking on the link that accompanies the Facebook post leads to a webpage that includes the same headline as above and a video.
The clip does not depict evidence of Aquino’s arrest. Instead it shows a group of parents who allege their children died after getting anti-dengue fever vaccine Dengvaxia.
The photo of Aquino that was used is also the reversed or flipped version of the photo published by local news outlet GMA News on Feb.28, 2017. GMA said the photo showed Aquino arriving at an emergency caucus of his political party.
Under a government campaign approved by Aquino’s administration, the vaccine was given to hundreds of thousands of Filipino children.
Aquino was president from June 2010 to June 2016. In the Philippines presidents are allowed to serve only a single term of six years. The current president is Rodrigo Duterte, who is from a rival party to Aquino’s and easily won the 2016 elections.
The false article about Aquino has been shared multiple times by supporters of Duterte and attracted thousands of interactions.
Below is a snapshot of some of the Facebook groups that shared the article.
Investigators recommended graft charges against Aquino, former health secretary Janette Garin and former budget secretary Florencio Abad on July 12, 2018 for their role in the government’s purchase of the vaccine.
However, Mary Rawnsle Lopez, a spokeswoman for the nation’s anti-graft prosecutor, told AFP no charges have been filed.
“It is still in the fact-finding stage,” Lopez said on July 23.
Philippine National Police spokesman Benigno Durana also told AFP that there was no arrest warrant for Aquino.
“No warrant of arrest has been issued,” Durana said on July 19.
Abigail Valte, Aquino’s spokeswoman, also said Aquino had not been arrested.
“It is not true,” she said on July 19.
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