FALSE: Roque quote on 10,000 COVID-19 deaths

Claim:

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that even if COVID-19 cases in the Philippines reach 10 million, only 10,000 would likely die, and Filipinos should instead be thankful that the President is not infected.

This claim was flagged by Facebook Claim Check, a tool that detects potentially false information on the platform.

Rating: FALSE

The facts:

Roque did not say this, and the Manila Bulletin did not post this quote card.

The graphic used for the claim contained the logo of the Bulletin. On August 8, Manila Bulletin posted on Facebook that they never published the graphic bearing the fake quote. The original image they published contained an entirely different quote from Roque.

Roque also addressed the fake claim, saying he never said the quote attributed to him.

The full quote falsely attributed to Roque said, “Covid lang yan, kunti lang namamatay, kahit umabot pa ng 10 million ang infected sa Pinas, walang mawawala sa atin, siguro 10 thousand lang ang patay. Be thankful instead, kasi ang Pangulo natin ay hindi nahahawaan. Kaya blessed pa rin tayo.”

(It’s just COVID, only a few are dying, even if infections in the Philippines reach 10 million, we won’t lose anything, maybe only 10,000 would die. Be thankful instead, because the President is not infected. So we are still blessed.)

During a press briefing on August 11, Roque said, “[May] lumabas pong fake news tungkol sa akin sa isang pahayagan. Well, sinabi naman po ng pahayagan na fake news talaga iyon. Ang sinabi ko daw ay, ‘COVID lang iyan, kaunti lang ang mamamatay, kahit umabot pa ng sampung milyon.’ Hindi ko po sinabi iyon.”

(A piece of fake news about me came out in a newspaper. Well, the paper did say that it was fake news. It quoted me as supposedly saying, “It’s just COVID, only a few would die, even if it reaches 10 million.” I did not say that.)

Roque also said that he will file cases against the fake news purveyors and have them investigated.

Moreover, Rappler did not find any reports, videos, or transcripts that prove Roque said this quote. Vera Files also fact-checked this claim.

In the past, Rappler also fact-checked other fake quotes that were attributed to Roque. These were also circulated through altered images. – Loreben Tuquero/Rappler.com

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