VERA Files
A YouTube video bearing a clickbait headline and thumbnail is claiming that House Speaker Martin Romualdez has been suspended from the House of Representatives. This is not true and the video shown is totally unrelated to the claim.
On Nov. 27, a YouTube channel uploaded a nine-minute and 59-second video bearing the headline:
“VIRAL NGAYON: SPEAKER ROMUALDEZ NAMA-ALAM nasa kongreso SUSPENDED na/ DU30 PBBM EBIDENSYA TINURO na (VIRAL NOW: SPEAKER ROMUALDEZ HAS LEFT congress NOW SUSPENDED/ DU30 PBBM EVIDENCE SHOWN.”
Its thumbnail featured photos of Romualdez, Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, and former president Rodrigo Duterte holding a document. It also carried the text:
“BREAKING NEWS TODAY. NAGIMBAL ANG LAHAT SA BALITANG TO (EVERYONE WAS SHOCKED AT THIS NEWS).”
Based on the Rules of the House of Representatives, only House members can suspend a fellow congressman after a two-thirds vote. The president and the vice president, more so a former president, do not have the power to do so, contrary to what the thumbnail implies.
There are no moves in the House of Representatives to suspend Romualdez, who in fact has gained support from the majority after he was attacked by former president Duterte.
The video itself carried no information about the erroneous claim and instead used an SMNI program’s audio clips of former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque talking about rumored impeachment plots against Duterte-Carpio. He also called “Romualdez and the Congress’ move” to reduce the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education’s 2024 budgets an “attack” against the vice president.
The video also contained unrelated audio clips from another vlogger.
The false video was posted more than a week after Deputy Minority leader and ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro claimed that there are “impeachment talks” against Duterte-Carpio among congressmen. Castro clarified in another interview that those were “casual conversations among lawmakers” and “nothing serious.”
Romualdez has denied impeachment moves against Sarah Duterte in the Lower House. Marcos also said the vice president “does not deserve to be impeached” and they are closely monitoring the issue.
VERA Files Fact Check previously debunked a similar claim that Romualdez was removed as House Speaker. (Read Marcos did NOT remove Romualdez as Speaker)
The video uploaded by the YouTube channel BANAT KAPANIG TV (created on Nov. 12, 2021) has 22,597 views as of writing. Another YouTube channel, WANGBUDISS TV, (Feb. 6, 2017) made a reaction video bearing a false headline and thumbnail. It has garnered 4,554 views.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
