By Billie Mercado and Han Escalante

On November 13, a post in the Facebook group Bongbong Marcos Alliance for Unity and Progress falsely declared that presidential aspirant and son of a late dictator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. won the 2016 vice presidential elections “by [a] huge margin”. The Facebook user stated that Marcos Jr. garnered a grand total of 21 million votes. As of writing, the post has accumulated around 24,000 reactions, 6,400 comments, and 18,000 shares.

Originally from Tiktok, the on-screen text of the uploaded video read, “Mga Ka BBM/DDS, Lumabas na ang kattuhanan. Malinaw po na c BBM ang nanalo sa 2016 VP. May kallagyan ka ngyon Leni Robredo. Paano yan tpos n kyo ngayon,” wrongly claiming that Marcos Jr. was the “clear victor” of the elections. 

The Tiktok video pieced together two clips that were taken out of context and not directly related to the results of the 2016 vice presidential elections. 

The first clip was a snippet of a 2018 interview of Sorsogon Governor Chiz Escudero about the issuance of an arrest warrant against former Comelec Chief Andres Bautista over allegations of ill-gotten wealth.

The second clip featured an unidentified man claiming that Chief Bautista had informed President Duterte that a certain “he” received 21 million votes. The man never claimed Marcos likewise received 21 million votes in the polls, but suggested there was “rampant cheating,” including in the vice presidential race. His claims have no basis, and the candidate in question is not clearly identified in the video.

The results of the 2016 national elections declared fellow presidential aspirant Leni Robredo as the rightful Vice President of the Philippines. Yet, in an emotional outburst following the release of the results, Marcos Jr. filed an electoral protest and demanded a recount. He accused Robredo of “electoral frauds, anomalies, and irregularities”, and claimed that his votes “were significantly reduced, manipulated and altered”.

Upon recount, however, it was discovered that Marcos Jr. had indeed received 14,157,771 votes while Robredo amassed 14,436,337— 278,566 more votes than the former. This gap is even wider than that of the initial tally, which was 263,473 votes. 

Additionally, after many long years of dispute between the two parties, the Supreme Court had officially ruled against Marcos Jr.’s electoral protest against Robredo earlier this year in February. A source from the Supreme Court stated that Marcos Jr. “failed to present specific acts to back his claims of poll fraud, such as the time and manner of irregularities”, and that the “allegations were bare, laden with generic and repetitious allegations.”