Fact check: Jay Sonza’s photo post about Pasay rally is misleading

MANILA, Philippines — A former broadcaster shared a photo of a campaign rally in Cebu with a caption that claimed it was taken at a campaign event in Pasay City.

CLAIM: Jay Sonza on Sunday, April 24 posted a picture of an aerial view of the crowd at a campaign rally. It showed pink hues hinting it was taken during an event for the presidential bid of Vice President Leni Robredo and vice presidential bid of Sen. Kiko Pangilinan, whose campaign colors are pink and green, respectively. Sonza claimed the photo was taken in Pasay City.

RATING: The claim is misleading. 

FACTS:

What the post say

Sonza captioned the post with: “Congratulations to the organizers and the 412,000 attendees. All-star cast concert: Leni at 57 in Pasay." 

On Saturday, Robredo celebrated her 57th birthday with hundreds of thousands attending a campaign rally in Pasay City.

This was mentioned by Sonza in his caption where he referred to the 412,000 crowd estimate that the organizers reported following the event.

This was, however, challenged by the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) who reported that the number of attendees only ranged between 90,000 and 100,000.

What the post left out

The photo Sonza attached showed the previous campaign rally of the Robredo-Pangilinan tandem dubbed CEBOOM! Grand People’s Rally. This was held at the North Reclamation Area in Mandaue City on Thursday, April 21.

The photo was noticed by several social media users who either corrected Sonza in the comments section of his post or shared screenshots of his status on Twitter.

They noted the unmistakable high-rise structure of Bai Hotel in the area.

A Google maps field search also showed the recognizable Bai Hotel and the open space in front of it in Sonza's photo.

Meanwhile, the April 23 grand rally dubbed “Araw Na10 ‘To” was staged along the stretch of Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard in Pasay City. They had three stages set up in Seaside Boulevard, J.W. Diokno Boulevard and EDSA.

Here are some photos with different angles taken during the Pasay grand rally’s livestream via Robredo’s Facebook page.

PHOTO: The three stages of the #ArawNa10To people’s rally and street party for Vice President Leni Robredo. #BilangPilipino2022 pic.twitter.com/8mKh4b6Da9

— Philstar.com (@PhilstarNews) April 23, 2022

Essential context

The campaign season has been a showdown of the volume of supporters for candidates in their events.

Vice President Leni Robredo has also been at the bitter end of false information spreading throughout the campaign, according to a study by Tsek.ph.

Why it matters?

As of writing, Sonza’s post has garnered 16,000 reactions, 3,100 comments and 700 shares.

In the comments section, the former broadcaster stood up for his misleading claim.

“I don’t want to be fact-checked by either ‘independent’ Rappler or Vera files that is why I have to write the exact number of attendees according to mainstream media account,” he said.

Most Filipinos who commented on the former broadcaster’s post also thought that he shared the correct photo.

“As usual doing their thing bloating the number of attendees in every rally they had like their inang always lutang!!! Hope everybody is in good place,” one Facebook user said. — reviewed by Kristine Joy Patag; edited by Rosette Adel

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This story is supported by the Philippine Fact-check Incubator, an Internews initiative to build the fact-checking capacity of news organizations in the Philippines and encourage participation in global fact-checking efforts.

Philstar.com is also a founding partner of Tsek.ph, a collaborative fact-checking project for the 2022 Philippines’ elections and an initiative of academe, civil society groups and media to counter disinformation and provide the public with verified information.

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