Kiko says ‘kaldero’ video spliced, seeks action vs. 'fictitious' socmed accounts 

Former senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan clarified that eating with the hands and from a pot lid is a usual practice in Pampanga, the home province of his father, contrary to the "spliced" viral video circulating online.

“Pumunta kami sa farm ni Romeo Catacutan and then we had breakfast. Now, they spliced itong mga videos, came up with a story, disinformation, fake. Sinasabi suka daw at asin which is definitely not true. And then, nag-viral na,” Pangilinan said in an interview during his Pangasinan campaign on Tuesday.

(We went to Romeo's farm, and these spliced videos popped out. People saying it was vinegar, salt...it wasn't true and it went viral.)

“They started posting it, splicing it and posting it kung saan saan, iba-ibang accounts sa social media, TikTok, Facebook. So clearly, you can see there is an orchestrated campaign to attack us. Iyong comment section puro Vietnamese ‘yung pangalan yung mga nagla-like e...’yung mga laugh emoji galing ng Vietnam. ‘Yun pa lang, dapat dinideactivate na ‘yun,” Pangilinan, a lawyer, added.

(It was all over social media accounts. And the comment, reaction sections were littered with accounts bearing Vietnamese-sounding names —the likes, comments, those who reacted with laughing emojis. These accounts should have been deactivated.)

Pangilinan asked the Commission on Elections to work with technology firms to combat trolling and disinformation.

“We hope Comelec will take action. The facts speak for themselves. We have leads given the account names and where they upload the posts. We hope the Comelec can convene the digital technology giants and come up with some sort of agreement or coordination on how to take down those clearly fictitious accounts,” he said.

Pangilinan said they have been taught to eat rice with carabao's milk and salt.

“Ang amin kasing nakaugalian ng tatay ko na itinuro ko rin sa mga anak ko, [puede] kumain ng kanin na may gatas ng kalabaw at may asin. Ang ginawa ni Romeo [sa vlog], binigay sa atin ‘yung takip ng kaldero dahil ‘yung gatas ng kalabaw, e pag nilagay mo dun sa dahon ng saging [na may kanin], e kakalat. [Kaya] kumain tayo ng gatas ng kalabaw na may asin at kanin. Kaya sana, ‘yung mga nagsasabing hindi authentic, hello, pwede ba, nagpapakatotoo kami,” Pangilinan also said in an earlier Facebook live dated April 12.

(We were taught to eat rice with carabao's milk and salt. During Romeo's vlog, we were handed a pot lid because putting the carabao milk with rice and salt in a banana leaf would be messy. We just ate a meal. So those saying it is not authentic, cut it out. We are just being true to ourselves.)

Further, Pangilinan said in the same April 12 Facebook video that he has been doing food vlogs since 2022 in line with his advocacy of "Hello Pagkain" or food security.

"Kaya hindi na ito bago. Nagtataka lang kami na biglang dito, para bagang kahapon lang ako nag-food vlog at kahapon lang ako gumamit ng kamay para kumain,” he said, adding that the spliced video also showed him wearing a blue shirt when he was wearing a white shirt in the original video.

(This is not new. We wonder why suddenly they are making it appear that I just learned to eat with my hands because it is election season.)

While freedom of speech is a right, Pangilinan said such a right does not cover spreading lies.

“You have freedom of expression. You even have freedom of information. But you don’t have freedom of disinformation. Ibang usapan ‘yan,” Pangilinan said.

(That's an entirely different conversation.)

Just four days ago, TikTok said that nearly 5 million videos from the Philippines had been taken down in the last quarter of 2024 for violating its community guidelines. 

During the April 8 House panel inquiry on the proliferation of false information online, Meta officials also said that Meta users are ultimately responsible for the content they post since Meta is a neutral platform. 

Not adding fuel to chaos 

During the Pangasinan campaign stop, Pangilinan also refused to comment on the ITIM campaign ad by reelectionist Senator Imee Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte, which paints the country in mourning and pitch black darkness due to government inefficiency.

“That’s their campaign, I'd rather not comment on their campaign and focus on mine. Ang gulo-gulo ng bansa. Let's focus on solutions. Let's focus on addressing hunger. Dapat talaga doon tayo tumutok instead of partisan politics. Huwag na nating dagdagan ‘yung gulo,” Pangilinan said.

(The country is already in chaos. We should focus on addressing hunger rather than adding fuel to partisan politics.)—LDF, GMA Integrated News

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