Disneyland Philippines: For Real Or Just a Fairy Tale?

When the President had a meeting with Walt Disney executives, people saw that as a sign of a future Disneyland Philippines Theme Park. Sorry to blow your bubbles, but that is not happening.

President Aquino meets with walt Disney international executives (photo by pcoo)

A photo posted by RG Cruz (@1rgcruz) on Feb 16, 2016 at 6:42pm PST

Last February, Philippine President Benigno Simeon Aquino attended the US-ASEAN Summit held in California, USA. The summit aimed to strengthen the relationship between the US and the ASEAN countries.

To make the trip more useful, President Aquino met with several business executives and discussed possibilities of them investing in our country. So when it was announced that he met with Walt Disney International executives on February 16, 2016, people thought that they might build a Disneyland Theme Park in the Philippines.

Communications Secretary Sonny Coloma refuted this rumor and said that Walt Disney International chairman Andy Bird emphasized their desire to invest on Filipino talent and never mentioned anything about a theme park, much to the dismay of the public.

Disneyland Park

Even after this clarification, people still believed that the dream project is already being worked out. In an article that went viral, Walt Disney International will allegedly invest $350 million in the Philippines and will be visiting the country and scout for a great location to construct an amusement park; mentioning Batangas, Bulacan, Laguna, and Pampanga as great prospects.

The same article also said that this decision was made two years ago, way before their meeting with President Aquino. But if you search this up on google, no reputable news organization, be it local or international, has reported on this matter.

Hence, no matter how much we'd like it to be true, this story should be filed under "HOW I WISH".

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Is Telstra Really Coming Back?

A rumor is going around Facebook saying President-elect Rody Duterte declared that he will allow Telstra's re-entry in the market. I traced the source of the "news" and ended up disappointed. Because it appears to be just a figment of someone's imagination.

In 2014, the Philippines was dubbed as the Social Media Capital of The World. According to a study, Filipinos spend 53 hours on social media per week. That is 11 hours of socializing more than the 42-hour average globally. And yet we are far behind in terms of internet speed, not just within South East Asia (no. 21 out of 22 countries) but the whole world (no. 176 out of  22 nations). But hope rose  in 2015 when news came that Telstra, Australia's number one internet provider, is planning on investing in the Philippines. However, the party ended before it even started. Last March 2016, it was announced that supposed joint venture of Telstra and San Miguel Corp. (SMC) will no longer push through, that the former is pulling out of the internet war. What adds salt to the wound is the fact that SMC has decided to sell their telco assets to Globe and PLDT. This saddened netizens, expressing their concerns with the seeming duopoly of Internet Service Providers in the country and the evidently poor service.

Trending News Portal wrote about Duterte's supposed announcement.

That is why when people heard that President-elect Duterte stated that he is willing to give Telstra a chance to provide internet service in the Philippines, everyone rejoiced! Crediting this great news to the president. But sadly, this is not true. Telstra is not coming back. According to the Trending News Portal, the president mentioned it last May 31, 2016 in a video. But there is no video. Nada.

Screenshot of supposed video as posted by Trending News Portal.

The screenshot above shows Trending News Portal directing readers to watch the news from what appears to be a CNN video. But you won't be able to watch the video because it's actually an ad that will redirect you to another page. Yes. Just a classic click and bait. In conclusion, even if we are desperate to change our internet provider, we might still have to endure the slow connection. Hopefully with President Duterte leading the country, there will be big changes, forcing Globe and PLDT to improve and be truthful with their services.

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Nope. Abaya Did Not Say That.

The election is now over and yet the lies are still pouring. A facebook page supporting now President-elect Rody Duterte shared an article purporting DOTC Sec. Jun Abaya's admission that the Laglag-Bala scheme was legal. "Abaya admits 'laglag-bala' modus is legal, needs funds for Roxas' campaign", the posted link says. However if you follow the link nowhere did it mention that Sec. Abaya made such confession. The actual content was posted last November 12, 2015 (you can read the article here. It did, however, mention that DOTC acknowledged there were lapses in filing cases against innocent victims. This was published during Senate's probe on the laglag-bala modus operandi.

Screenshot of edited Facebook Card Title

Last May 11, Philippine Daily Inquirer has clarified that matter and shared the real link with the Facebook card bearing the actual headline. But even today people/pages are still posting it with misleading title. As far as I know Facebook has already removed users' ability to edit title and description of posted links. On how they do it today, I am still looking for the answer.

Philippine Daily Inquirer claims that the title was edited.

Actual title of the article in the link.

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Pitiful Father and Son on Viral Post Not Filipinos

I saw on my Facebook News Feed a shared post by a certain Cindy Balbuena about a Filipino father who seems to have lost consciousness while working on the street. Add to that the fact that his son is soundly sleeping in his arms. It touched a lot of hearts, got shared by a lot of people and reposted by different Facebook pages. But the skeptic in me decided to search for more details. And lo and behold, I found out that they are not Filipinos.

A screenshot of the viral post by Cindy Balbuena.

A google search revealed that these photos has circulated the web as early as 2014, mostly in South East Asian websites. And when it reached the Philippines, they became Filipinos. One of the more prominent websites, When in Manila, posted this story and received some flack. In the comments section a user pointed out that the people on the photos could actually be from Myanmar based on the man's outfit and the text on what the woman was clutching. Another important clue is that the father was selling/carrying bird feeders, something that we don't see on Philippine streets.

Photo of father and son appeared in another website way before Balbuena's post.

(L) A woman clutching a purse with Burmese text. (R) The man is wearing Longyi commonly worn by Malay men.

A lot of those who shared and commented on the post were inspired by the father's dedication to work for his child. Some even aired their desire to help the poor people. Hopefully no one takes advantage of the situation and scam these kind-hearted Filipinos.

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Article About Rigged OAV Not (Totally) True

Did you share that article about a Smartmatic representative admitting fraud in the recently held OAV in Hongkong? Well you got duped, because it's fake!

An article about a Smartmatic technician confirming that the alleged vote rigging in Hong Kong was pre-planned has been making rounds since the Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV). The voting was held from April 9-May 9, 2016. The same article contains a video from GMA News reporting on OFWs' complaints, problems encountered by the voters.

Screenshot of the article link circulating on Facebook.

While it is true that there were OFWs who's names were not included in the voters' list (the voter's registration machine malfunctioned, as confirmed by COMELEC Comm. Arthur Lim), and that some complained about undervotes, nothing on the video mentioned about a Smartmatic technician who admitted that the voting process was manipulated. The same article mentioned that the Smartmatic representative confessed it to a certain OFW Global Movement Secretary General Gerard Lapuz, but a simple google search did not yield anything about Lapuz and the organization.

The article was from okd2.com, a satirical website. What makes the website easily deceive people is because the articles they publish mix facts with fiction. Although its About page mentioned that they inject false information for entertainment, people take every detail as fact. I guess netizens are quite lazy not to verify that.

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