There are no official reports, statements or records proving Senator Cynthia Villar said this.
In one look
- Claim: Senator Cynthia Villar says, “What if we buy ABS-CBN?”
- Evaluation: FALSE
- Facts: On January 25, the National Telecommunications Commission granted Advanced Media Broadcasting Systems, owned by Villar’s husband, Manny Villar, the television frequencies that were previously assigned to ABS-CBN. However, there are no official reports, statements or recordings to prove that Senator Villar said this quote.
- Why did we check this: This complaint has been emailed to Rappler several times. The original Facebook post containing the claim has over 2,100 shares, 408 comments and 1,300 shares, at the time of writing.
Full Details
A January 27 Facebook post claims that Senator Cynthia Villar made the following statement:Hey, you can’t use ABS-CBN. Mai pera naman kami. Nagsusumikap kami sa trabaho. Yung iba jan, 6 p.m. daw, pero wala ka makita kahit un eyebag. Siya robot?”
(How about we buy ABS-CBN? We have the money. We work very hard. Other people say they work 18 hours, but you don’t even see them with a single bag under their eyes. What are they, robots?)
In the post, a photo of Villar was placed alongside the quote and with ABS-CBN News logos below. At the time of writing, the post has over 2,100 shares, 408 comments and 1,300 shares. The post was also emailed to Rappler multiple times for fact-checking.
This statement is false.
There is no official report, statement or recording to prove that Villar said this.
Villar is the wife of billionaire and former Senate Speaker Manny Villar, owner of Advanced Media Broadcasting Systems (AMBS). On January 5, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) granted AMBS access to television frequencies that were previously allocated to ABS-CBN, Channel 2 and Channel 16. Congress did not renew the AMBS franchise. ABS-CBN when it expired almost two years ago. (READ: TIMELINE: ABS-CBN distributes ABS-CBN frequencies)
ABS-CBN is still owned by Lopez Holdings Corporation and is led by Chairman Martin L. Lopez. The Villar family owns real estate developer Vista Land, shopping center developer Starmalls Incorporated, and housing and condominium developer Golden Bria.
The quote card was also a manipulated version of an ABS-CBN quote card that was circulating in August 2020, along with another quote that Senator Villar actually said. She has made no recent statements regarding this issue or the ABS-CBN network. – Sofia Guanzon/Rappler.com
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