FALSE

A YouTube video is claiming the Supreme Court (SC) has issued a verdict against Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers. This is false.

A group of vloggers filed libel complaints only on March 5 against Barbers in the Quezon City prosecutor’s office, not in the Supreme Court. The complaints have yet to undergo preliminary investigation before these are brought to court for trial.

Posted on Feb. 28, the video’s title, which substituted some letters with numbers to avoid keyword detection, read:

“KAKAPASOK LANG Karma na! K0ngres0 Nagulat sa Hat0L kay Barbers? Naisahan ng mga DDS (diehard Duterte supporters) at VPSARA sa SC?

(Just in, karma hits! Congress, shocked at the verdict against Barbers? DDS and VP Sara outsmarted them in the SC?)

The spurious video referenced an opinion piece spread across social media since Feb. 21 through several fictitious accounts, suggesting that vloggers can “sue and file a class suit against Barbers.”

Read the full story on VERA Files Fact Check.

VERA Files is a nonstock, nonprofit independent media organization registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (Company Registration No. CN200808072). Founded in March 2008, it is published by veteran Filipino journalists taking a deeper look into current Philippine issues. Vera is Latin for “true.”

VERA Files was founded by journalists Ellen Tordesillas, Luz Rimban, Booma Cruz, Jennifer Santiago, Yvonne T. Chua and Chit Estella (who passed away in a road crash on May 13, 2011).

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