FALSE: Robredo ‘says’ lockdown should have started October 2019

Claim: Vice President Leni Robredo says the lockdown imposed due to the coronavirus should have been enforced as early as October 2019. 

In a graphic or quote card with Robredo’s photo, a quote attributed to her said, “Sana as early as October 2019 pa lang nag-lockdown na dito sa Pinas. Zero cases sana tayo.” (If we started the lockdown in the Philippines as early as October 2019, we would have had zero cases.) 

A reader emailed to Rappler for verification a screenshot of a Facebook user’s post that shared the quote card. Upon checking, the Facebook user’s post appears to have been deleted.

However, the quote card is still being shared by some users and pages, according to Facebook’s Claim Check dashboard. One such post, first posted on June 27, has been shared at least 143 times and has received around 400 reactions and nearly 100 comments as of writing.

Rating: FALSE 

The facts: Robredo did not say the quote attributed to her in the claim.

There are no reports from credible news organizations or statements from the Office of the Vice President that contain this quote from Robredo. 

The graphic with the claim also cropped and edited an actual Rappler quote card featuring Robredo. That graphic contained an actual quote from Robredo on June 25 where she criticized the government’s seeming “lack of urgency” in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rappler has previously fact-checked and debunked edited quote cards or false quotes attributed to the Vice President. – Rappler.com

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