FACT-CHECK: Darryl Yap falsely claims Robredo ‘did not become an executive’

Jul 28, 2022 | Fact Checked by PressOnePH

Yap may want to refer to Article VII of the 1987 Constitution, which pertains to the Executive Department.

CLAIM: Former vice president Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo did not become an executive

RATING: FALSE

Controversial director Darryl Yap falsely claimed that former vice president Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo did not become an executive in his “Vincentiments” Facebook page on July 27.

The context: Yap was defending President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s decision not to immediately visit earthquake-hit areas in his home region of Ilocos. Critics contrasted this with the first-on-the-scene approach of Robredo, whom Marcos roundly defeated in the May presidential election.

Yap agreed with Marcos that a high-profile visitor would only interfere with rescue and relief operations, and took a swipe at Robredo for supposedly making photo opportunities out of her visits to disaster sites.

“Hindi ito narerealize ng mga PINKS, 

kasi di naman naging executive ang lodi nila (The pinks [Robredo supporters] don’t realize this because their idol did not become an executive),” he claimed.

Yap is wrong because as vice president, Robredo was part of the Executive branch of government, and therefore headed her own executive office, the Office of the Vice President, which executed its own projects and programs and disbursed annual budgets. An example is the “Angat Buhay” livelihood program, which Robredo has spun off into a nongovernment organization.

Vice presidents serve a six-year term, twice longer than the terms of local executives, the type of “executive” Yap might have been referring to.

Robredo was also appointed Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council chair, a Cabinet and therefore an executive post, and served from July to December 2016, or until she was unceremoniously booted out by President Rodrigo Duterte for opposing the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the heroes’ cemetery. 

The new enfant terrible of Philippine cinema, who holds tremendous influence and has 5.8 million followers on Facebook, may want to refer to Article VII of the 1987 Constitution, which pertains to the Executive Department.

During the campaign, Yap directed short videos featuring Sen. Imee Marcos, the “Len-len” series, which were aimed at denigrating Robredo’s womanhood and public image.

Yap doubled down and directed “Maid in Malacañang,” supposedly the real story of the Marcoses’ last hours in the Palace before fleeing the country for exile in Hawaii during the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution. 

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