
A social media post claims Vice President Leni Robredo said the Philippines has 1,700 islands.in a “quiz bee” segment of a radio program.

CLAIM: Vice President Leni Robredo once said that the Philippines has 1,700 islands
RATING: TRUE
A graphic posted on Facebook correctly states that then vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo said the Philippines had only 1,700 islands on DZMM’s “Ikaw Na Ba?” “quiz bee” segment in 2016.
“Ilang isla ang bumubuo sa Philippine Archipelago? Hindi po 1,700 islands. Fact: The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,641 islands. It stretches from the South of China to the Northern Tip of Borneo,” it read.
(How many islands make up the Philippine Archipelago? Not 1,700 islands. Fact: The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,641 islands. It stretches from the South of China to the Northern Tip of Borneo.)
The photo’s caption read, “Fact check, Liberal Party Chairman Robredo’s statement is false!”
This claim is true.
In 2016, Leni Robredo, who was then running for vice president, guested in DZMM’s “Ikaw Na Ba?” series of pre-election interviews.
Robredo correctly answered 14 out of 18 questions within the 3-minute segment.
At the 2:37 mark of the episode uploaded on the ABS-CBN News YouTube channel, host Vic Lima asked, “Kung Luzon ang pinakamalaking isla sa bansa, ilang isla ang bumubuo sa Philippine Archipelago?”
(If Luzon is the biggest island in the country, how many islands make up the Philippine Archipelago?)
Robredo incorrectly answered “1,700.”
It is also true that the Philippines has 7,641 islands, based on the geography resource website World Atlas. This figure came from a report by the National Mapping and Resource Information. — Zeus Legaspi
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