As campaigning began in the Philippines for midterm elections in May that will fill more than 18,000 posts, a fabricated poll for a local race in southern Bukidnon province surfaced online. The purported survey results originated from an imposter website of a state-run radio station.
“Survey result for 2025 gubernatorial race on Bukidnon, Philippines,” reads the title of a graphic shared on Instagram on February 19, 2025.
It appears to show Azucena Huervas, currently the mayor of the province’s Valencia city, ahead of four rival candidates including incumbent Governor Rogelio Roque.
“Good evening Bukidnon, this is a post from Radyo Pilipinas, an official survey,” the Visayan-language caption to the graphic says, referring to the state-run radio station (archived link).
The post links to website claiming to be Radyo Pilipinas News.
Similar posts surfaced on Facebook as campaigning kicked off for the archipelago’s Senate and candidates for so-called party-list seats.
Electioneering will kick into higher gear in March when candidates for House seats and thousands of local positions launch their bids for office (archived link).
‘Deceitful article’
Radyo Pilipinas, however, has disowned the circulating graphic and branded the supposed survey results as “fake” in a statement on Facebook on February 14 (archived link).
“A deceitful article is spreading on Facebook, pretending to be from Radyo Pilipinas,” the statement reads. “Do not be duped — always verify information from official sources.”
Read the full story on AFP Fact Check.