FALSE

A TikTok post has falsely identified Commission on Elections Chairman George Garcia as the “Garci” referenced in the 2005 “Hello, Garci” wiretapping scandal involving then president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. 

Posted on April 20 by TikTok user @victorianoovillar, just a week after an overseas Filipino voter alleged a ballot mismatch, the video showed a photo of Garcia overlaid with the text:

BUKING kana sa Kasinungalingan mo. Mataas na daw sya (Your lies have been discovered. It’s already high). MAY GOD SAVE THE PHILIPPINES FOR ANOTHER HELLO GARCI this 2025 Election. Baka MaKaLusoT (It may slip through)!?

The post also played the infamous wiretapped audio recording, altered to read “Hello, Garcia” in the subtitles, misleading viewers into thinking the voice was Garcia’s.

The nickname “Garci” refers to former Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, whose wiretapped phone conversations with Arroyo suggest they were plotting to rig the 2004 national elections.

As of writing, @victorianoovillar’s video has garnered 14,200 views with 348 likes and 118 shares on TikTok. The account has 2,290 followers.

Read the full story on FactRakers.org.

Share this

Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn Share on Reddit

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.

FactRakers' fact-checks also include those produced by Tinig ng Plaridel — the official student publication of the UP College of Media and Communication — and the UP Journalism Club.

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.

factrakers.org