Facebook pages falsely tag Bayan Muna partylist group ‘disqualified’ days before 2025 elections

CLAIM: Bayan Muna party-list group was disqualified by Comelec for communist ties. 

RATING: FALSE

Facebook pages and profiles shared a series of posts on Saturday falsely claiming that the Bayan Muna party-list was disqualified by the Commission on Elections ahead of the May 12 polls.

However, the screengrabs provided by the publishers were found to be altered and do not reflect any real reports regarding the alleged disqualification.

The page falsely claimed the progressive group, vying for a seat in the House as a party-list representative, has ties to the New People’s Army and the Communist Party of the Philippines, labelling it a ‘threat to national security.’

A Philstar.com reporter, whose name appeared in the byline of an altered news article, debunked the claim on Facebook, denying that she and the online news platform had published such a story.

She also warned readers to be wary of other Facebook pages reposting and recycling the fabricated reports.

Comelec posted an official statement through its official Facebook page, Saturday night, denying claims of Bayan Muna’s supposed disqualification.

It said that purveyors of the misinformation campaign against the party-list had “copied the original formatting” of its resolutions. 

All official Comelec resolutions and announcements can be found on its official website. The false disqualification order cannot be found on the Comelec website.

Several other news sites were also dragged in the spread of misinformation. Inquirer.net and Rappler denied publishing such a story, warning its readers to be on guard against fraudulent sites who use similar branding.

Representatives of Bayan Muna have filed a complaint before the Comelec against what they called “black propaganda” against the party-list.

Several of these pages had been taken down and their posts removed from Facebook. Hurt Allauigan

PressOne.PH is a verified signatory of the Code of Principles of the International Fact -Checking Network (IFCN) at Poynter. The code of principles of the International Fact-Checking Network is a series of commitments organizations abide by to promote excellence in fact-checking. We believe nonpartisan and transparent fact-checking can be a powerful instrument of accountability journalism..

PressOne.PH believes that fact-checking is essential to combating misinformation and disinformation, and in informing and educating citizens and voters. Read more of PressOne.PH’s Fact-Checking Policy by clicking here.

The public is welcome to send feedback or requests for fact-checks at factcheck@pressone.ph.

If you believe PressOne.PH is violating the Code of Principles of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), you may submit a complaint directly to the IFCN website: https://ifcncodeofprinciples.poynter.org/complaints-policy