The Quezon City government has tagged as "fake news" a circulating announcement on social media that is inviting the public to a birthday event of Mayor Joy Belmonte on Friday.
The reported event is called "Birthday Handog ni Joy Belmonte," which was supposed to go on at 4 pm on March 18 at the Amoranto Sports Complex in Quezon City.
"Wala pong katotohanan itong event na ito. Ito ay muling panlilinlang sa publiko, na kinakalat ng masamang tao," said the QC government in a statement.
(There is no truth to this event. This is another attempt to mislead the public, which has been spread by bad people.)
"Mangyari po lamang sa abisuhan ang inyong mga kakilala na maaaring nakatanggap ng fake news na ito," it urged.
(Please advise the people that you know who may have received this fake news.)
Belmonte, who is aiming for re-election in Quezon City, has been targeted by fake news posts over the past months.
Early this month, she even filed cyber libel raps against Mike Defensor, who is also running for QC mayor, for publishing social media posts that she said are "libelous, malicious, false and fraudulent."
Defensor defended that it was all part of the election season, and said that he has no plans to counter the charges.
