From politics to religion, peace talks to war on drugs, former president Rodrigo Duterte was unfiltered in tackling various issues during his six-year term. His pronouncements using unorthodox language, often fiery and off-color, were a major source of misinformation and disinformation that targeted his critics or propped up his image.
Based on the database of VERA Files Fact Check, around 34.30% or 200 of at least 583 articles on state officials and public personalities published from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2022 focused on debunking inaccurate statements by Duterte.
The 2016 assumption to the presidency of the former Davao City mayor dubbed “patient zero” of the modern disinformation era in 2018 coincided with the start of the fact-checking initiative of VERA Files. In most of his six-year term, Duterte benefited not just from inaccurate claims but also from social media disinformation spread mostly by his supporters. (See Duterte, allies reap the most benefits from disinformation)
Indeed, the country’s former top public official was VERA Files’ most fact-checked personality since 2016. He was named the “most fact-checked figure” in 2018 and the top purveyor of disinformation on COVID-19 among government officials in 2020.
(See VERA FILES FACT CHECK YEARENDER: Duterte is our most fact-checked figure in 2018; here are patterns that emerged from his false claims and VERA FILES FACT CHECK YEARENDER: The Duterte administration’s share of COVID misinformation)
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