FALSE

Makabayan senatorial candidate Rep. France Castro has been falsely red-tagged in a Facebook post that misappropriated a photo of her outside her polling center in Valenzuela.

The post by Channel 167’s Facebook account on election day bore the caption:

DONE VOTING… NEXT… RECRUITING… SWAKTO NASA SCHOOL (HAPPENS TO BE AT SCHOOL) 😁😆😁

Credited to ACT Teachers Partylist, the misused photo is originally among several shots of Castro casting her vote at Roberta De Jesus Elementary School earlier today. 

Along with other Makabayan bets, Castro has been falsely labeled as a recruiter for the New People’s Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, using various disinformation tactics ahead of the 2025 midterm polls. (Related story: AI-aided red-tagging on the rise)

Channel 167, which has over 34,000 followers on Facebook, has been posting satirical content about politicians voting in today’s elections without any disclaimer, potentially misleading viewers.

As of press time, the misused photo has garnered 722 reactions with 92 comments and 22 shares on Facebook.

Read the full story on Factrakers.org.

Share this

Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn Share on Reddit

FactRakers is a Philippines-based fact-checking initiative of journalism majors at the University of the Philippines-Diliman working under the supervision of Associate Professor Yvonne T. Chua of the University of the Philippines’ Journalism Department. Associate Professor Ma. Diosa Labiste, also of the Journalism Department, serves as editorial consultant.

FactRakers' fact-checks also include those produced by Tinig ng Plaridel — the official student publication of the UP College of Media and Communication — and the UP Journalism Club.

The name of the initiative, coined from the words “fact” and “raker,” is inspired by the term “muckrakers,” first used in the early 1900s by American president Theodore Roosevelt to express his annoyance at progressive, reform-minded journalists at the time.

factrakers.org