An environmentalist and engineer slammed a fan page dedicated to Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte earlier this week when he caught it posting inaccurate information about a project that he had worked on.
Reach Peñaflor shared a post that he saw on the fan page Sara Du30 Supporters for 2022. The post shows two images of the Paco Estuary, which is connected to the Pasig River: one inundated with garbage and another where it appears clean. According to the page, the estuary was dirty during then-President Benigno Aquino III’s term, whom it sarcastically called “decent.” However, the water was supposedly cleaned up during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, whom they admitted was “rude.”
Read: Duterte abolishes Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission months after saying water was ‘uncleanable’
Peñaflor was incensed by what he saw and wrote that he worked on the project with ABS-CBN Foundation’s former head, the late Gina Lopez, during the years of the Aquino administration.
“We worked on this from 2009 to 2011 under the guidance of Ma’am Gina Lopez under the Hold Hands for Pasig River and the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission (PRRC)! I was the project engineer of Paco Estuary and I got so dark but the Paco Estuary became clean. And our River Warriors and the residents of Paco became proud! Do not distort the truth!” the environmentalist wrote on his post, which has been shared almost 4,000 times.
Ironically, it was Duterte who shut down the PRRC because he believed that it was impossible to clean the Pasig River, and dismissed the achievements that the commission has achieved.
In a chat interview with Coconuts Manila, Peñaflor said he discovered the meme when one of his Facebook friends commented on it.
“When I saw it, I got so mad because it was wrong! I believe that when something wrong is constantly being done, it becomes institutionalized and becomes right. So I reacted! I couldn’t sleep so I got my phone and posted my reaction,” he said.
He left a comment on the meme and corrected some of the members who believed the lies.
“Then the next day, maybe they were embarrassed, they pulled it out. There was someone from Guard the Environment of the ABS-CBN Foundation, Melvic Cabasag, who left a comment and she was harassed! Luckily, I saved the photo [before they removed it] and I reposted it with the corrections on the fake news!” Peñaflor said.
In a separate Facebook post, Cabasag confirmed the harassment that occurred and insisted that the project was co-managed by the ABS-CBN Foundation. Meanwhile, Peñaflor said that at least two people have reported the fan page to Facebook’s moderators for spreading fake information.
Have you seen similar outrageous or absurd fake news lately? Send tips by leaving a comment below or tweeting to @CoconutsManila.
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