This photo shows a Philippine social welfare official, not Vice President Leni Robredo
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on January 5, 2021 at 13:40
- 2 min read
- By AFP Philippines
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The photo was posted on Twitter here on December 24, 2020.
The photo is captioned: “The VP is really credit-hungry, offering help just for a photo op.. had to show the contents of the Envelope.. you are so FAKE you porridge..”
“Porridge” is a pejorative used by detractors when referring to Vice President Leni Robredo.
Other Twitter users also appeared to believe that the woman in the photo was Robredo. Comments to the post read “FVP’s donation is not for real help but just feeding @lenirobredo ego!” and “Even in helping others she’s fake @lenirobredo”.
The photo was also shared alongside a similar claim on Facebook here, here and here.
The claim, however, is false.
Reverse image and keyword searches on Google found that the photo in fact shows a social worker distributing money at the wake of Sonia and Frank Gregorio, a mother and son killed by police in December 2020.
The photo was originally posted on Twitter here by the state-run Philippine Information Agency (PIA) on December 22, 2020.
The PIA photo is captioned: "DSWD condoled with the Gregorio family. Agency representatives DSWD USec. Aimee Torrefranca-Neri and DSWD Regional Director Marites Maristela visited the wake."
A text image included in the PIA post also states: "The Gregorio family received financial assistance from the DSWD - Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS)".
“DSWD” is the acronym for the Philippines Department of Social Welfare and Development and a close inspection of the photo shows that the social worker is wearing a DSWD vest.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading posts (L) and the PIA photo (R) with the DSWD logo circled:
Robredo also denounced the misleading posts, calling them “fake news”.
“This is definitely not me,” she said in a statement posted to Facebook on December 28, 2020. “We definitely gave help to the family of the slain mother and son but we never posted about it.”
The misleading claim was also debunked by Philippine news organisation Rappler here.
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