A Facebook page reposted recently a clipped video of a YouTuber where she falsely claimed that there is no proof for the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family and misquoted radio anchor Ted Failon.
This clip posted Feb. 15 by Everyone’s Content 360 is taken from Nancy Bicolana’s Feb. 9 live video, where she said:
Nawalan na pala tayo ng talino, nawalan na tayo ng dangal, hindi pa pala tayo gising. Because boboto tayo sa sinasabi nilang magnanakaw na hindi naman nila mapatunayan for the last three decades (We’ve lost our intelligence, we’ve lost our integrity and yet we still haven’t woken up. Because we’re voting for a candidate whom they accuse of stealing when they haven’t even proved it in the last three decades).
The Sandiganbayan indeed junked in June last year a three-decade case involving the alleged ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family and two of their supposed cronies, Ricardo Silverio and Pablo Carlos Jr., for insufficiency of evidence.
However, three Supreme Court rulings earlier ruled the Marcoses had ill-acquired wealth.
In 2003, the High Court ruled that a total of $658 million previously kept by the Marcos family in their Swiss bank accounts and foreign foundations were unlawfully acquired.
A 2012 ruling found the family guilty of managing and concealing ill-gotten wealth through a dummy Panamanian corporation called Arelma Inc. About $3.37 million worth of assets were forfeited in favor of the Republic of the Philippines.
In 2017, the court affirmed the forfeiture of jewelry owned by former first lady Imelda Marcos. The following year, the Sandiganbayan found Mrs. Marcos guilty of seven counts of graft related to the illegal creation of private organizations in Switzerland while she was a government official.
The reposted video also showed Bicolana reacting to Failon’s “Think About It” segment on the Feb. 8 episode of Ted Failon at DJ Chacha sa Radyo5. Adding the text over the entire 12:52 video, it misquoted:
Magnanakaw ang pamilya mo BBM -Ted Failon (Your family are thieves, BBM - Ted Failon).
In the reposted video, Bicolana previewed a snippet of Failon talking in his radio program at the 9:15 mark where he said:
...Subalit, pag nagkataon, paano mo nga naman masasabi sa mga taga-gobyerno na huwag kayong magnanakaw sa pera ng bayan kung ikaw mismo at ang pamilya niyo ay hinahabol pa rin ng gobyerno para mabawi ang mga sinasabing nakaw niyong yaman (When given the chance, how can we tell government officials not to steal from the people’s money when you and your family are still being chased by the government to retrieve your so-called ill-gotten wealth)?
Marcos Jr.’s name never figured in Failon’s quote. Even the full version of Failon’s segment, which was uploaded by News5Everywhere on YouTube, makes no mention of the claimed quote nor of Marcos Jr.
Failon delivered his 13-minute thinkpiece on corruption in Philippine politics, which is a hotly debated issue during the election season. The Philippines dropped to 117th place out of 180 countries in the Corruption Perception Index 2021 report by Transparency International. This is two ranks lower compared to 2020, where the country ranked 115th.
The reposted Facebook video has over 1.8 million views, 108,000, post reactions and 28,000 comments while the original video uploaded on Youtuber has 14,838 views, 1,300 likes and 81 comments as of Feb. 19.
A CrowdTangle search also reveals that the Facebook video is shared in different pro-Marcos pages and groups such as BongBong Marcos and Sarah Duterte Tandem Election 2022, United Cordillerans Supporting BBM, and MARCOS LEGACY with hundreds of interactions.
The Facebook page has over 10,000 likes and 21,000 followers while Nancy Bicolana’s YouTube channel has over 43,000 subscribers. (UP Journalism Club)