FACT-CHECK: Late actor Rico Yan was not a Marcos, Duterte supporter

Claim: Rico Yan was a Marcos and Duterte supporter.

Rating: FALSE

Actress Claudine Baretto, in a now-deleted instagram comment, falsely claimed that the late actor Rico Yan, her on-screen partner, was a supporter of the Marcoses and the Dutertes. 

“It was about year 2000 when we met with President Duterte. In that same year, we met Ma’am Sara and lastly, BBM. Rico looked up to these people. Our whole family is BBM. Only Marjorie and her kids are Leni. Tita Sita Yan and I and My Mom, BBM rin po. Please let us all respect everybody. Stay safe and Godbless all of you,” the comment read. 

It was a response to a fan who commented that if Yan were alive, he would choose Vice President Leni Robredo as his presidential bet. 

“Had Rico Yan been alive, he’d choose VP Leni also. Remember? Rico Yan stood up against the Marcoses and refused to endorse any of them,” the fan commented. 

In a separate comment, Claudine said, “Rico is true-blooded Marcos (supporter) and admires BBM, also President Duterte, when we met all in person in Davao.”

This statement is FALSE.

A 1998 documentary from “The Correspondents” resurfaced after Barreto made the claims. 

It featured Yan as a guest correspondent in an episode that tackled Martial Law. 

“Ipinangako ni Marcos ang isang bagong lipunan, parang isang fantasy land, at si Marcos ang bidang superhero. He was the judge, jury, and executioner,” Yan said in the episode. 

He referred to former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and his wife, Imelda, as “conjugal dictators.”

In the short documentary, Yan spoke with Bayan Muna’s Satur Ocampo, a political prisoner-turned-congressman. Ocampo was imprisoned during the Martial Law era.

Ocampo mentioned that Yan’s paternal grandfather, former Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Gen. Manuel Yan, Sr., opposed Marcos’s declaration of Martial Law.

“Ang lolo mo, si General Yan, did not believe that Marcos needed to declare Martial Law, kaya umalis siya. Iba ang kaniyang pagtingin; hindi pareho ng kay Marcos. It turned out later that he was correct,” he said. 

(Your grandfather, General Yan, did not believe Marcos needed to declare Martial Law, that’s why he left. His perspective is different; not the same with Marcos. It turned out later that he was correct.)

Film producer and talent manager Noel Ferrer also debunked Barreto’s claims. 

“FACT CHECK. I was with Rico Yan at the Edsa People Power Anniversary that celebrated the overthrowing of a dictator plus his family and cronies,” Ferrer’s Instagram post read. 

It accompanied a photo of Yan at an Edsa People Power anniversary celebration.

The actress made the false claim after she endorsed the only son and namesake of the late dictator and kleptocrat for president on April 11. 

Barreto is running for councilor in Olongapo City.— Zeus Legaspi

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