No, this Philippine youth group was not 'disqualified' from the 2019 midterm election
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on May 17, 2019 at 10:45
- Updated on May 17, 2019 at 10:48
- 2 min read
- By AFP Philippines
Copyright © AFP 2017-2025. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
An image containing the claim was shared in this Facebook post on May 12, 2019, and also in this one published the following day.
It says that the Philippine national election authority, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), disqualified several groups days before polls opened.
The Philippines voted on May 13, 2019, to elect local and national legislators. Here is a government information page about the election.
The two false posts have been shared more than 300 times each. The caption of the May 13 Facebook post consists of three emojis – a thinking face, a flushed face, and a face with a monocle.
Below is a screenshot of one of the false Facebook posts:
The image contained in the posts has the words “Live Breaking News” in the top left-hand corner and the COMELEC logo in the top right-hand corner.
There is also text in the image that has the Filipino-language headline: “COMELEC DISQUALIFIES FIVE PARTYLIST, DAYS BEFORE ELECTION.”
It also says, in part: “The disqualification was rooted in the petition that was filed by Angel Aguilar at COMELEC to cancel the registration of the six partylist BAYAN MUNA, ANAK BAYAN, ANAK PAWIS, ACT-TEACHERS, GABRIELA, KABATAAN PARTYLIST.”
“Partylist” refers to a practice in the Philippines where a political party runs for the lower House of Representatives as a group, described in the country’s law here.
AFP has previously debunked similar claims that five of the six groups listed in the misleading posts – all of them except “Anak Bayan” – were disqualified from the elections, in this fact-check blog.
Anak Bayan, or Anakbayan, describes itself as a “national democratic mass organization of the Filipino youth” on its Facebook page.
It was not disqualified before the election; in fact it never qualified to be on the midterm ballot in the first place.
Here is the official list of qualified partylists on the COMELEC website. Anakbayan is not on the list.
The group also confirmed it was not a candidate in the election.
“We’re not running for the elections”, Al Omaga, Anakbayan’s media liaison officer, told AFP in a phone interview on May 14.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us