CLAIM: Facebook video showing interaction between Cassandra Ong and Rep. Dan Fernandez ‘happened’ in Senate inquiry on POGOs.
RATING: FALSE
A Facebook “reel” falsely claimed that the interaction between Rep. Dan Fernandez and a suspected Philippine offshore gaming operator, Cassandra Ong, happened in the Senate.
The clips however came from an inquiry of the “quad-committee” of the House of Representatives on Sept. 19, not in the Senate.
The House and the Senate are separate chambers of the bicameral legislature, and conduct their committee work separately based on the 1987 Constitution.
The interaction had fueled a trend on social media, with various users “shipping” Fernandez and Ong because of their exchange of smiles.
Facebook user Jane Malobago captioned the video as follows: “[love time] sa senado natin[,] kilig talaga sa inyo” (love time in our Senate, we are thrilled).
Fernandez, who co-chairs the House quad-committee panel conducting an inquiry into POGOs, asked Ong about her apparent “new look” when she attended the hearing on Sept. 19.
The clips the ‘reel’ showed were from the sixth joint public hearing of the committees on dangerous drugs, public order and safety, human rights, and public accounts.
Fernandez later clarified that he was “just making [the discussion] light.”
It was the House of Representatives’ own and separate inquiry on matters related to POGOs, which had implicated controversial personalities such as ex-mayor Alice Guo.
The Senate continued its hearing on Sept. 24 while the House quad-committee has resumed on Sept. 27.
As of writing, the post has garnered 6.2k reacts, 1.2k comments and 453 shares on Facebook. Hurt Allauigan
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