FALSE: Militant groups to ‘protest’ shut down of Kapa-Community Ministry

Rappler.com

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FALSE: Militant groups to ‘protest’ shut down of Kapa-Community Ministry
It's not true that Bayan and Gabriela released a statement about Kapa or the alleged protests against its shutdown

Claim: Militant groups Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), Gabriela, Kadamay, and the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) supposedly planned to stage a rally to protest the shut down of the Kapa-Community Ministry.

The blog site dwirenews.blogspot.com published a post on June 11 claiming that a certain Edwin Latorgo, Bayan’s “chief protest organizer,” said that “the rally will be held nationwide and millions of Kapa members who are waiting for their money are expected to join.”

In another entry released on the same date, Bayan Secretary-General Renato Reyes Jr supposedly criticized President Rodrigo Duterte for ordering to close down Kapa. 

Reyes allegedly said, “Ang pagpapasara sa Kapa ay lalong pahirap sa mga mahihirap (The closure of Kapa is a burden to the poor).”   

This claim was spotted through Trendolizer, a tool used to track trending content on websites and social media. The two blog entries were shared separately by at least 3 Facebook pages and have gained over 1,000 combined interactions as of writing.  

Rating: FALSE

The facts: None of the groups and individuals mentioned in these posts made any public statements about Kapa or made announcements regarding the alleged protests against its shutdown. 

Speaking to Rappler, Bayan’s Reyes denied the claim and said, “We have not issued such statement nor conducted any action supporting Kapa. This is obviously fake and part of the disinformation campaign of the Duterte government.”

Reyes also said the claim was probably released to “draw attention away from the June 12 protests concerning national sovereignty.” 

When asked whether Latorgo was indeed a Bayan “chief protest organizer,” Reyes said that he doesn’t know who Latorgo is and that there is no such position as chief protest organizer in their group.

Google search also yielded no results for Latorgo and his statement about the protest. 

Gabriela also denied the claim and said that they are not familiar with Kapa and are not affiliated with them. 

In a text message to Rappler, the party list’s representative Arlene Brosas said, “No, wala po na ganyang plano.” (There is no such plan.)

Rappler also checked the Facebook pages of these groups and found no posts relating to Kapa.

Kapa is facing controversy following Duterte’s order to shut them down for investment scams. (READ: EXPLAINER: How Kapa Ministry took advantage of investors) – Glenda Marie Castro/Rappler.com

If you suspect a Facebook page, group, account, a website, or an article is spreading false information, let Rappler know by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.

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