FALSE

An anonymous Facebook user has falsely claimed that Pasig City mayoral candidate Sarah Discaya leads the race against incumbent Mayor Vico Sotto by 349 votes, before the vote counting even begins.

The claim was posted at 8:46 a.m. in a Facebook group called NAPICO MANGGAHAN FOODTRIP, over an hour after the regular voting period began for the 2025 Philippine midterm elections. 

It reads:

JUST IN: LAMANG NA PO NG 349 VOTES SI SARA DISCAYA 🎉🎉 NAWAY MAGTULOY TULOY 👆😇 #KAYATHIS (Just in: Sara Discaya is ahead by 349 votes, hoping that this trend continues)

Vote counting only begins “as soon as the voting is finished” and must be done publicly at the polling place by the board of election inspectors, according to Section 206, Article XVIII of the Omnibus Election Code. 

Voting for the midterm elections started at 7 a.m. and will end at 7 p.m.

Read the full story on FactRakers.org.

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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.

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