Edu Manzano did not say Marcos is ‘the problem’
A viral quote card claiming actor Edu Manzano called President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. "the problem” and said talk about Vice President Sara Duterte was diverting attention from issues facing the government is fabricated, Manzano told FactRakers.
The card that began circulating on Sept. 15 used photos of Manzano and Marcos and attributed the following statement to the actor:
Puro kayo Sara, huwag ninyo kaming lituhin. Si Marcos Jr. ang may problema (All you talk about is Sara, don't confuse us. Marcos Jr. is the one with the problem)!
The post’s caption described this as a “bold statement” from Manzano calling for attention to be focused on issues confronting the Marcos administration. It also claimed that discussion should not be diverted to Duterte when the real issues involved the administration’s governance, problems and accountability.
Manzano said in an Instagram direct message he never made the statement and is not aligned with any political camp.
Nope, I never said that. I am neither green, pink, yellow, red, blue, black, etc. (...) My posts and essays deal with issues and not personalities.
The colors Manzano mentioned are commonly associated with political figures or groups in the country, including the former Marcos-Duterte tandem’s red and green and Naga City mayor Leni Robredo’s pink.
Manzano also said other quote cards falsely attributing statements to him had recently circulated online.
Lately there’s been a number of quote cards circulating my image and attributing a quote from me. I just responded to one yesterday.
He was referring to a viral claim of him supposedly slamming Marcos supporters, which he refuted in a Facebook post on Sept. 16.
A reverse image search showed Manzano’s photo in the quote card had appeared in a Philstar.com article published last April 8, in which he was advised to take legal action against people manufacturing false content using his name and likeness.
The fabricated quote card was posted by Facebook blogger By Banasteros who has about 30,000 followers. Before the post was taken down, it had accumulated about 1,300 comments and 1,300 shares.
The claim was reposted on Facebook, Threads, YouTube and TikTok. Among them were Facebook account Rai Hana, which has about 359,000 followers, 1,200 comments and 273 shares, and Threads account @dlorahanollec with about 8,200 likes, 1,200 comments and 168 shares. (RO)
