On October 13, several DDS propagandists had their epic fail moment after spreading posts that President Rodrigo Duterte was a US International Anti-Corruption awardee.
However, the said post came from the Satire Page Cebu Dairy News.
As a result, netizens fact-checked said propagandists through social media.
Artist Aljon Mendoza had a face-palm moment, noting that despite being a satirical post, many still congratulated Duterte.
Saw this on fb, kahit na fake news andaming nag congratulate kay Duterte
https://t.co/xBxzvsEJIs
— Aljon Mendoza (@AljonMendoza_) October 13, 2021
Other netizens echoed Mendoza’s observations.
They clarified that it was Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto who won the award.
So I just saw someone share a fake photo from one of those DDS pages, congratulating their Supreme Leader for being named by the US Department of State as one of its 12 International Anti-Corruption Champions…
… which in fact, was actually awarded to Vico Sotto.
Kadiri.
▲
— GaryJoranMayoralgo▲ (@garymayoralgo) October 13, 2021
https://twitter.com/RightPatriotsPH/status/1447851097662443522
Ngayon pong readily available na ang lahat ng impormasyon sa internet, ugaliin sanang mag Fact Check bago maniwala. Wag nyo naman po sana igrab yung US International Anti Corruption Award kay Mayor Vico Sotto. Napaka unfair na po nun.. Salamat po!
Source: https://t.co/HoEZlB5nyU pic.twitter.com/3EjEDcSemb— bootsiekoi (@bootsiekoi) October 12, 2021
One netizen expressed concern about people imitating publication materials from the social media of legitimate news outlets.
people should really stop imitating the pubmats of legit news socmeds,,, its not funny anymore https://t.co/DbfdQFf4MI
— nickz (@nickzsandiego) October 13, 2021
Another netizen detailed a personal account of seeing people they know sharing the said post on facebook.
https://twitter.com/misakiinakamura/status/1448246347618938886
One netizen pointed out that people should take satire less seriously.
https://twitter.com/DoctorPepper_/status/1448237606429343748
Other netizens theorized that people spreading the post aimed to make noise on social media.
Tangina to think na there's a phase in my life that I actually liked Sass Rogando Sasot?? Eww
Seriously, we don't know if she's aware or not that the post is satirical. Maybe she's aware but she's going to post it anyway so that her audience would believe that it's actually true https://t.co/pLMMzUiYI0
— 朱丽安 (@imhulyen) October 13, 2021
she knows what she's doing, she's counting on the troll hordes to lap it up https://t.co/ohLabNGLdS
— alan c. robles @hotmanila@mastodon.online (@hotmanila) October 13, 2021
The Satire Page Cebu Dairy News released a statement saying that they are glad to see people fact-checking the details they posted.
As for the actual person who won the award, Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto was one of the 12 recipients of the International Anti-Corruption Champions Award in February 2021.
The US Government described Sotto as “a standard-bearer for a new generation of Philippine politicians who prioritize anti-corruption and transparency initiatives in their election campaigns and in office.”