CLAIM: Water filters donated to Marawi relief operations in 2017 through the Office of the Vice President were recycled paint containers and had lead content.
RATING: False
Former broadcaster Jay Sonza erroneously claimed in a Facebook post on Jan. 12, 2022 that water filters distributed by the Office of the Vice President were recycled paint containers and had lead content, implying that the health and safety of the beneficiaries were put at risk.
Sonza actually posted a photo from 2017, grabbed from the website of Physicians for Peace, which reported the turnover of 70 water filters to the Marawi relief operations through the Office of the Vice President’s Angat Buhay anti-poverty program.
The turnover was made by University of the Philippines medicine students and Physicians for Peace, a nongovernment organization working on strengthening health systems and addressing health service inequity, on June 15, 2017.
But Sonza’s followers wouldn’t know, because apart from throwing shade at Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo, he gave no information on the photo and where it came from.
Sonza also offered no evidence to back up his claim that the water filters used to contain paint and had lead, a highly poisonous and toxic metal.
Sonza falsely claimed:
“Ang ganda naman ng lalagyan ng tubig inumin nila.
Mga pinaglagyan ng pintura.
Matibay at maraming laman, may lead content pa.
Aangat nga kaya ang buhay ng gagamit nito?
Juice ko po Leonor!”
(Their water containers look nice.
These used to be paint containers.
Very durable and can carry a lot, and with lead content.
Will the lives of those who use them improve?
My juice, Leonor!)
On Jan. 16, the Mu Sigma Phi Fraternity, whose members handled the water filter project, spoke out against Sonza.
In a statement, the fraternity said “We would like to inform and reassure the general public that the water filtration buckets used in Project H20 are FOOD-GRADE, SAFE FOR USE and that NO TOXIC MATERIALS are included in their assembly.”
Read the full story on Fact Checked by PressOnePH.
