Latest news with #Pilipinas
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Broadcast error fuels Philippine poll fraud claims
"God Comelec! It's name but Bam's face?" reads a Facebook post shared May 13, 2025, referring to candidate Vic Rodriguez and newly elected Senator Bam Aquino. "Did you swap their votes? You panicked while switching votes so you made this mistake?" The post includes a news graphic titled: "Bilang Pilipino 2025 Senatorial Race". It depicts votes received by six Senate bets. However, the pictures and names do not match. The candidate ranked first, for example, has incumbent Senator Christopher Go's photo but is labelled Willie Revillame. Similar posts rocketed across Facebook and TikTok a day after the archipelago nation's mid-term vote, which was largely defined by the explosive feud between President Ferdinand Marcos and impeached Vice President Sara Duterte (archived link). The dozen senators chosen nationally will form half the jury in Duterte's July trial that could see her permanently barred from public office (archived link). Comments on the posts indicate some people believed the graphic was proof Comelec rigged the votes. "Comelec's deception busted," one reads. Another says "Garcia must be held accountable," referring to poll body chairman George Garcia. A keyword search on Google for "Bilang Pilipino 2025" found the faulty graphic in News5's live election night broadcast on Facebook (archived link). AFP reviewed the original segment before it was edited out of the larger live stream. According to the anchors, the graphic showed unofficial results, with 58.89 percent of votes transmitted. Local media ABS-CBN and GMA News also aired the results around the same time. The top six candidates and their corresponding votes are consistent with the pictures and tallies in News5's graphic (archived here and here). News5 has since apologised for the name mix-up, which it attributed to a "graphics error". "For a few seconds at around 9:15 p.m., we showed a tally of the partial, unofficial results for the senatorial contest that had the correct ranking and photos of candidates. The names, however, did not match," the broadcaster said in a Facebook statement published May 15 (archived link). "Measures will be taken so that this does not happen again." AFP has debunked more election-related misinformation in the Philippines here.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
No recent overhaul in Philippine education system
"Starting June 2025 DEPED stop (sic) accepting K-12," says a May 11, 2025 Facebook graphic that bears the logos of several Philippine government agencies including the Department of Education (DepEd). "All 5 years old can accept in (sic) Grade 1 (even without going through Kindergarten)," it further says in a mix of English and Tagalog. "Grade 10 graduates can go straight to college." The image has been shared over 5,300 times after being posted on a page called "Dole Phil", the acronym for the nation's labour and employment ministry. "K-12" is shorthand for the Philippine national education programme, established through a 2013 law that added universal kindergarten coverage and two years of senior high school. The legislation replaced an earlier 10-year basic education cycle with the intent of aligning the country's education system with the rest of the world. The K-12 system has become a frequent target of misinformation, as critics questioned its implementation and long-term viability. Similar posts spread across social media, drawing comments from users who believed it showed a legitimate policy announcement. "My gosh, it seems so difficult -- a 5-year-old going straight to Grade 1!" one user said. Another commented: "Thank God. Senior high is too expensive." President Ferdinand Marcos had said he was looking at making some changes to improve the K-12 programme but no recent overhaul has yet been implemented (archived link). "The circulating post on social media about the removal of the K to 12 program in the upcoming SY 2025-2026 is fake news," DepEd said in a May 14 post, urging the public "to stay vigilant and discerning against misinformation" (archived link). A review of the websites of the Philippine Senate and House of Representatives found no new legislation has been passed as of May 18 scrapping the K-12 programme (archived link). A June 30, 2022 resolution urging Congress to review the programme remains "pending with the Committee on Basic Education and Culture since 2022-08-24" (archived link).Meanwhile, a proposed "Education Pathways Act" for junior high school finishers passed in the House but is waiting for a counterpart measure in the Senate (archived here and here). The false announcement was shared by a Facebook page with just over 1,000 followers impersonating the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) -- a government agency that has no mandate over education policy. DOLE's official page has a verified badge confirming its authenticity and has over 1.4 million followers.
