Fact check: SONA rallies are protests, not conspiracy to stop Marcos Jr. address
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 10:31 a.m.) — A YouTube video claims that Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte is an ally of protesters who supposedly want to stop the first State of the Nation Address of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
CLAIM: The YouTube account of Robin Sweet Showbiz, which has been tagged repeatedly for sharing false information, claimed that activists Renato Reyes and Rep. Raoul Manuel (Kabataan party-list) want to stop Marcos' SONA, and Belmonte helped as their ally.
RATING: This is false.
FACTS:
What the post says
The unnamed narrator from the video claims that the Kabataan party-list, whose representative Manuel sits at the 19th Congress and Bayan's Reyes, who was erroneously referred to as someone from Bayan Muna, have joined forces to “bar the first SONA” of Marcos.
“After the permit that Reyes is hoping for was denied, this was approved by QC Mayor Belmonte,” it said in Filipino. We have redacted the slur added to the narration referring to the mayor.
It went on to read the reply of Belmonte’s office that granted the appeal of Reyes to hold a protest march from Elliptical Road to Commonwealth Avenue up to Tandang Sora from 9 a.m. to noon.
Screengrab by Philstar.com
What it left out
Protest rallies have been held during the SONA along Commonwealth Avenue for decades.
These protests do not aim to stop the SONA but to air activists' grievances that they want the government, particularly the sitting president, to address.
In a phone call, Reyes explained that they do not intend to disrupt the SONA, but in fact "most of us will listen and analyze what Mr. Marcos will have to say."
The Quezon City government also told Philstar.com that there is no connivance between them when they granted their appeal to hold the protest march.
"Definitely, wala nag-meeting lang kaming lahat," QC Public Information Officer Engelbert Apostol told Philstar.com in a phone call.
In a separate statement, Mayor Belmonte added: "By allowing the gathering of both progressive groups as well as pro-administration groups, we are simply upholding everybody’s constitutional right to peaceful assembly and free speech. These rights are enshrined in the primordial laws of all democratic governments."
Coordination meetings and consultation sessions are part of negotiations for rallies and protests as well as for other public activities, even those that are not political in nature.
Essential context
Days ahead of the SONA, the Quezon City Police District and the Philippine National Police declared Commonwealth Avenue a "no-rally zone.”
Reyes wrote an appeal to Mayor Belmonte on the QC Department of Public Order and Safety denial of the BAYAN’s rally permit on July 15, saying it was based on a “faulty understanding of the law and disregards historical precedents.”
Belmonte, who was then out of the country, said the local government will review its decision.
On Friday morning, the QC government said it met with Reyes Jr., Obet de Castro, lawyer Carlos Montemayor Jr. (National Union of Peoples Lawyers), Sanlakas leader Flor Santos and lawyer Jose Pedrosa, and Lieu Razos of the Philippine Build Better Movement (PBBM) on July 22. "Final coordination meeting with QCPD and other agencies happened Friday afternoon/evening," Apostol added.
“The focal point of the discussion was how to uphold the fundamental constitutional right to freedom of peaceful assembly and free speech, while simultaneously ensuring public order and safety,” it said.
“Based on these dialogues, the local government has decided to allow progressive groups to conduct their march and assembly along Commonwealth Avenue (eastbound) up to the corner of Tandang Sora Avenue on Monday, July 25, while the PBBM and allied groups will be allowed to conduct their program along Interim Batasan Pambansa (IBP) Road near Sinagtala Street, Barangay Batasan Hills,” QC PIO added.
Why it matters
A day after it was posted, the video already gained 11,545 views and 252 comments. It also landed on Philstar.com’s cursory monitoring of YouTube videos that have been flagged for posting false information.
We fact-checked this because, as the Commission on Human Rights stressed: “As the Chief Executive presents the state of the nation and discusses its agenda and accomplishments through the SONA, it is equally important for the government to also provide space and enable the right of the people to peacefully assembly in recognition of the essence of public participation in national affairs and as part of a functioning democracy.”
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Disclosure: Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte is a shareholder of Philstar Global Corp., which operates digital news outlet Philstar.com. This article was produced following editorial guidelines.
This story is supported by the Philippine Fact-check Incubator, an Internews initiative to build the fact-checking capacity of news organizations in the Philippines and encourage participation in global fact-checking efforts.
Philstar.com is also a founding partner of Tsek.ph, a collaborative fact-checking project for the 2022 Philippines’ elections and an initiative of academe, civil society groups and media to counter disinformation and provide the public with verified information.
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