Misleading

Vice President Leni Robredo did not violate electoral laws when she received campaign donations through her personal account in 2016, contrary to a viral TikTok video that splices clips from a 6-year-old interview of Robredo to imply that she pocketed those contributions.

The TikTok video places out of context a clip from the Bandila interview in which Robredo said she declared around P8 million as her cash on hand in her 2016 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth. The video makes it appear that she said she received that much in campaign donations.

It is not illegal for electoral candidates to receive contributions through their personal account as long as these and all other contributions are declared in their Statement of Contribution and Expenditures (SOCE), according to the Omnibus Election Code.

Resolution No. 9991 issued in October 2015 by the Commission on Elections also does not forbid the depositing of campaign donations into personal accounts. The resolution provided the rules and regulations concerning campaign finances in the 2016 elections.

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FactRakers is a Philippines-based fact-checking initiative of journalism majors at the University of the Philippines-Diliman working under the supervision of Associate Professor Yvonne T. Chua of the University of the Philippines’ Journalism Department. Associate Professor Ma. Diosa Labiste, also of the Journalism Department, serves as editorial consultant.

The name of the initiative, coined from the words “fact” and “raker,” is inspired by the term “muckrakers,” first used in the early 1900s by American president Theodore Roosevelt to express his annoyance at progressive, reform-minded journalists at the time.

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