Columnist Jerry Suico Tundag of Cebu-based newspaper The Freeman falsely claimed in a tweet that presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. had “accepted” the verdict of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), which dismissed in its entirety his poll protest against Vice President Leni Robredo six years ago.
STATEMENT
Tundag, former editor-in-chief of the newspaper, said:
“When #BBM lost in 2016 (many say he was cheated), he went through the process of a protest and accepted the verdict.”
Source: Jerry Suico Tundag Twitter Account, “When #BBM lost in 2016…,” April 25, 2022
He then went on to revive a fake quote, which was attributed to Robredo, that says:
“Leni, doing poorly in all surveys, says the only way she’ll lose is if she is cheated. There’ll be trouble, it s (sic) said. This shows the stuff of which they’re made.”
FACT
The PET unanimously dismissed “the entire electoral protest” of the former senator on Feb. 16, 2021. Less than three months later on May 11, Marcos Jr. filed a motion for reconsideration, asking the tribunal to review his third cause of action in which he sought to annul the results of the 2016 vice presidential race in Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, and Basilan.
Read the full story on VERA Files Fact Check.
