GMA Network news anchor Jessica Soho did not interview Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. when the latter was running for vice president in 2016.
Screenshots from Philstar.com and CNN Philippines’ YouTube channel
CLAIM: Jessica Soho interviewed Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in 2016, wherein the latter was heckled by Liberal Party supporters
RATING: FALSE
Philstar.com published a column by Alex Magno on Jan. 27, 2022, where the political science professor erroneously claimed that Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., the only son and namesake of the late dictator, was heckled in an interview with Jessica Soho in 2016.
“No one remembered that when Marcos submitted to a Jessica Soho interview in 2016, the venue was filled with LP (Liberal Party) supporters who heckled his every answer,” Magno wrote, saying Bongbong’s decision to skip the Jessica Soho Presidential Interviews that aired on Jan. 22 could have been a tactical decision.
But Soho did not interview Bongbong in 2016. Magno’s claim was refuted by GMA Public Affairs in a statement released on Feb. 11.
“Ms. Jessica Soho did not interview Bongbong Marcos in 2016. Ms. Soho’s last interview with Marcos Jr. was in 2011 for the newscast State of the Nation. In 2019, Ms. Soho was chosen to ask questions by virtue of drawlots to then senatorial candidate Imee Marcos during the GMA News and Public Affairs Senatorial Debate 2019. No heckling happened during this Debate,” the statement read.
Marcos was indeed heckled in a 2016 debate, but in one organized by the Commission on Elections and CNN Philippines—not GMA Network—on April 10, 2016. The debate was hosted by Pinky Webb and Pia Hontiveros—not Soho.
During the debate, heckles of “never again!” disrupted the late dictator’s son as he was delivering his opening statement and answering the question, “What will define your leadership as vice president of the Philippines?”
“Never again” is a phrase often associated with the Holocaust and other genocides, and, in the Philippines, the Martial Law that was declared by Bongbong’s father.
The heckling can be watched here (timecoded to Bongbong’s opening statement).
It is also inaccurate for Magno to claim that the hecklers were specifically LP supporters. There were anti-Marcos groups protesting outside the University of Santo Tomas campus where the CNN Philippines debate was held.
Magno’s column also included two more erroneous statements, which were fact-checked by GMA News here and Vera Files here. John Ezekiel J. Hirro
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