“Kiko” Pangilinan visited Communist Party of the Philippines founding chair Jose Maria “Joma” Sison in Denmark for peace talks.
CLAIM: Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan works under “master” Jose Maria “Joma” Sison
RATING: FALSE
A certain “Jun Jun Ni Noel” (“junjun,” derived from the English word “junior,” is Filipino slang for “penis”), posted on Jan. 25 a photo of Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan and communist leaders Jose Maria “Joma” Sison and Luis Jalandoni, indicating that Pangilinan was working under the Communist Party of the Philippines. The user posted the photo in the “BBM 2.0 Mindanao” Facebook group, which is composed of supporters of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (who is also referred to as “BBM”), the former senator and son of the late dictator.
The original photo (without the overlay text) was taken in 2011, during Pangilinan’s visit to the National Democratic Front Panel (NDFP) headquarters in Utrecht, Netherlands for peace talks. The photo was taken by the ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau, which was exclusively invited to the meeting.
ABS-CBN made a report on the meeting between the two camps, wherein nothing was stated about Pangilinan supposedly working for Sison and the communists. Instead, Pangilinan “presented his proposals to the NDFP, particularly in helping push the peace talks and modernization of agriculture in order to solve poverty which he says is the root of the armed conflict in the Philippines.”
The details of the meeting were also listed in a Senate document from 2011. The document states that Pangilinan made the visit “in the hope that the kinks that have led to the postponement of the talks could be ironed out and that the peace talks could proceed.”
The NDFP also released a statement that was signed jointly by Pangilinan, Sison and Jalandoni. It reads: “Sen. Pangilinan came on his account as a senate official of the Government of the Philippines in order to promote the government-NDFP peace negotiations and encourage the holding of formal talks between the government and NDF Negotiating Panels.”
Pangilinan went to Utrecht on official business, not because he is a lackey of the CPP founder. John Ezekiel J. Hirro
PressOne.PH is part of #FactsFirstPH which brings together various sectors that are committed to promoting truth in the public space, and exacting accountability on those who harm it with lies. For those interested to join the initiative, email info@factsfirst.ph
PressOne.PH has adopted Facebook’s ratings options for third-party fact checkers and is working toward accreditation with the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). See our fact-checking policy here.