CLAIM: Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo sought campaign money from Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, who rejected the request.
RATING: False
In a column published on Dec. 15, 2021, titled “Solid North, Solid South: Stronger than 2016,” Manila Times opinion columnist Rigoberto Tiglao claimed without solid basis that Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo solicited campaign money from Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, but was spurned.
Tiglao claimed, again without solid basis or evidence except the say-so of anonymous sources, that Robredo wanted Ressa to get money out of the P25 million she had won as one of the two recipients of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.
“Sources claimed that Robredo frowned her frown when she was told that Maria Ressa declined her plea to contribute to her campaign funds from her P25-million Nobel cash prize,” Tiglao wrote.
Tiglao’s wrong claim was made into a quote card by a self-proclaimed blogger, Orman Ortega Manansala, on Facebook and Twitter. “Cracks are showing” in the Robredo camp, he wrote.
Replying to the claim on Twitter, Ressa said: “Hahahaha not satisfied with disinformation, they outrightly lie … I don’t read him.”
In a separate reply, Ressa linked to Rappler’s previous debunking of Tiglao’s false claims.
Read the full story on Fact Checked by PressOnePH.
