FACT CHECK: Pia Cayetano quote card on spliced video, Taguig flood control projects is fake

There is no interview, statement, or press report of the senator making the remark shown in a quote card, which has circulated across at least three separate Facebook accounts with no verified original source

AT A GLANCE

• There are no interviews, press statements, or credible news reports showing Senator Pia Cayetano making the statement attributed to her in quote cards circulating online.
• Contrary to the claim, Cayetano has not issued statements on the controversies referenced in the quote cards. She has declined to comment on the issue of her posting an alleged spliced video that twists the statements of House prosecutor Chel Diokno.

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Claim: Senator Pia Cayetano suggested that she and her brother, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, might as well resign over accusations involving a spliced video and flood control projects in Taguig.

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The claim has circulated as quote cards across multiple Facebook accounts since early August.

One post, published on August 6, carries the caption, “Gusto niyo bang mag-resign sila? (Do you want them to resign?)” Another post, published on August 5, asks, “Pabor ba kayong kasuhan sila o di kaya mag-resign na daw sila?” (Are you in favor of them being charged, or should they just resign?), accompanied by a “Yes/No” poll graphic.

A third post, also published August 6, uses the hashtags #PiaCayetano #AlanCayetano with the caption, “Tama! Mag-resign na lang kayo (That’s right! You should just resign).”

All three posts use the same graphic, showing Cayetano at a podium beside her brother, with the quote: “Kakasuhan niyo ako dahil sa spliced video…Tapos kakasuhan niyo yung kapatid ko dahil sa flood control projects sa Taguig…Mag-resign na lang kaya kaming magkapatid.”

(You’ll charge me over a spliced video. Then you’ll charge my brother over flood control projects in Taguig. Might as well have us siblings resign.)

Combined, the three posts have garnered over 1,390 reactions, 1,500 comments, and 67 shares as of writing.

The facts: No interview, press statement, or news report shows Cayetano saying this. 

The fake quote card bundles two separate, real controversies into a single fabricated soundbite: an ethics complaint filed against Pia Cayetano on July 29 over a spliced video of House prosecutor and Akbayan Representative Chel Diokno, and a separate Senate Blue Ribbon Committee probe into alleged ghost flood control projects in Taguig, where Alan Peter’s wife currently serves as mayor. 

Contrary to the claim, Cayetano has not issued statements on the controversies referenced in the graphic. A GMA News video clip shows her declining to comment on her posting of the spliced video and she has yet to respond to questions about the ethics complaint against her.

Under fire: Pia Cayetano, a senator-judge in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, faces an ethics complaint from civil society groups over her July 24 Facebook post. The post allegedly used a spliced video to misrepresent Diokno’s statements to falsely suggest that the prosecution had no evidence against Duterte. (READ: Did Senator-judge Pia Cayetano just amplify a misleading video of Chel Diokno?)

Civil society coalition Tindig Pilipinas accused Cayetano of “deliberately omitting Rep. Diokno’s legal explanation to invert the meaning of his statement,” which it described as “active, calculated deceit.” 

Alan Peter, meanwhile, is implicated in a separate Senate inquiry into alleged anomalies in flood control projects in Taguig City. Senator Panfilo Lacson, who raised the accusations, has referred evidence of alleged irregularities to the Ombudsman. Among the examples he raised were two projects supposedly supported by the same photograph and a slope-protection project that reportedly got two separate budget allocations.

Cayetano has denied allegations of “ghost” projects and called for similar projects in other Metro Manila cities to be investigated. – Cyril Bocar/Rappler.com

Efren Cyril Bocar is a journalist from Llorente, Eastern Samar who graduated with a degree in English Language Studies at the Visayas State University. Cyril is also a graduate of the Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship of Rappler for 2024. 

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