Fact check: Sara Duterte ‘quote’ telling teachers with laptop issues to shut up is fake

MANILA, Philippines — A quote card in which Vice President and Department of Education Secretary Sara Duterte said teachers with complaints over their DepEd-issued laptops should "shut up" is fake.

CLAIM: A circulating quote card that uses the logo of news organization SMNI alleged that Duterte told teachers complaining about laptops they received from DepEd to "shut up” and buy their own devices.

RATING: This is false. 

FACTS: 

What the posts say 

Several social media users have been sharing since May 16 a fake quote card of Duterte allegedly telling teachers who have complaints over the slow and outdated laptops they got from DepEd to “shut up” and purchase their own.

The full quote reads: “DepEd teachers who find their issued laptop to be slow or not in accordance with the latest specifications should return it and buy their own laptop. If they can not be thankful, the least that they can do is SHUT UP.”

The fake quote card also alleged that Duterte said this on April 7 in Davao City.

What the post left out 

SMNI has disowned the quote card and called it “fake.” 

The news channel has also issued a warning against individuals who are misrepresenting or misusing its logo.

A reverse image search also shows that the fake graphic used an identically cropped photo of Duterte from a quote card posted by Inquirer.net in 2018. The Inquirer.net quote card was about then-President Rodrigo Duterte's remarks about the Bible and Quran, and not about DepEd laptops.  

Philstar.com also reached out to Duterte and her spokesperson at DepEd and the Office of the Vice President for comment. We will update this fact-check with their response.

Essential context 

The fake SMNI quote card circulated on social media platform Facebook five days after Duterte distributed laptops to teachers in Leyte.

DepEd has also recently been the subject of controversy over laptops it procured for public school teachers that were eventually found being sold at private retail stores.

RELATED: House probe sought into reselling of DepEd laptops for teachers 

Why we fact-checked this 

According to social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle, several Facebook users shared the fake graphic in Facebook groups who claim to be related to supporters of former Vice President Leni Robredo and public interest movements.

Posts of the fake quote card were reshared by private Facebook accounts in groups like "Angat Buhay Engineers," "LENI ROBREDO.... PARA SA PILIPINO (ORIGINAL),” “NEGROS FOR LENI 2022 ELECTION,” Movement for Freedom and Democracy,” “SOBRA NA! TAMA NA! LABANAN NA!!!,” among others.

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