A Facebook post claimed that the Guinness World Book of Records deleted its entry for the “greatest robbery of a government” attributed to the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos Sr. because it was baseless.
CLAIM: Facebook page Kaalaman PH Media posted that the Guinness World Records of the “Greatest Robbery of a Government” has been deleted after three decades, because there is no “truth” or “basis” to the said record.
RATING: This is false.
FACTS:
What the post says
Kaalaman PH Media, which claims to be a “social media agency,” posted on March 15 that the record on the greatest robbery of a government is no longer accessible.
It quoted a statement from Guinness World Records’ Amber Georgina-Gill who said that they seriously take responsibility for being a source of reliable, accurate information.
What it left out
In a message to Philstar.com, GWR said that part of their responsibility is to re-examine records that have not been recently researched and verified to ensure that it is up-to-date, accurate and compatible with their values.
GWR explained that the decision to review the title is their decision alone.
They, however, stressed that they “do not dispute this record as a historical fact, nor are we disputing that we monitored the record title and published it in our books and online.”
GWR said they are reviewing the details of the record, “including whether it has since been broken,” to ensure that it is updated and accurate.
Essential context
Website Wayback Machine stores internet archives which showed that the post was still accessible on March 9, 2022.
It named Ferdinand Marcos as the person behind the greatest robbery of government, involving an amount of 5 to 10 billion US dollars.
Read the full story on Philstar.com.
