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A Facebook user who posted a graphic claiming the Eiffel Tower in Paris was built by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and named it after his mother Josefa has had to tell readers that it is a joke.

The graphic, which was posted Feb. 16 in the satire group supporting presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr., bore the photos of the Eiffel Tower and Marcos side-by-side with the text:

Ang Eiffel Tower ay pinagawa ni Marcos bilang ala-ala (sic) sa kanyang Ina (The Eiffel Tower was built by Marcos in honor of his mother).

It also claimed that Marcos was born to a certain “Josefa Eiffel.”

Joyce Villar clarified in the comments section of the public group “BONGBONG MARCOS ONLY [BMO]” her post’s satirical content after this gained more than 12,400 reactions, 3,500 shares and 1,100 comments as of Feb. 20.

Read the full story on FactRakers.

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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