MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – It was a sincere wish for a happy birthday from Vice President Leni Robredo to ABS-CBN actress Kim Chiu. After all, their birthdays were within days of each other.

But the greeting hit a sour note and Chiu wasn’t happy.

In her video greeting, Robredo wished Chiu a happy birthday but added that she knows the actress is ”now in a good place.” It’s something that people say when they remember a loved one who had passed away.

“What was she thinking,” Chiu said of Robredo’s greeting. ”I’m still alive and kicking and in the prime of my life.”

In response to what she called a big insult, Chiu said she was shifting her presidential vote from Robredo to Bongbong Marcos.

Moral of the story: If you’re the Vice President, refrain from making public statements without a script prepared by your spokesperson or communications team.

DETAILS: On its front page headline the day after the massive UniTeam rally in Cebu, the broadsheet The Philippine Star proclaimed that the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that Covid cases will surge in the Philippines, reaching 300,000 active cases by May this year.

300,000, of course, was the estimated number of people who attended the Cebu UniTeam rally.

The PhilStar headline was accompanied by a photo of, what else, the Cebu rally.

Was PhilStar insinuating that the UniTeam rally was a Covid superspreader? Or was it resorting to fear-mongering to either dissuade UniTeam supporters from attending future rallies in the next three weeks, or worse, discourage people from voting on election day, May 9?

FACT CHECK: The Adobo Chronicles traced back the actual statement/press release of WHO Philippines, and indeed, there was a warning by the organization. BUT nowhere in the statement did WHO mention any number, and certainly not the number 300,000.

While WHO mentioned the increased mass gatherings due to the political campaigns and the Holy Week holidays, it never mentioned a surge that will specifically happen in May .

Here is the LINK to the WHO statement.

OUR VERDICT: The PhilStar news headline was FAKE NEWS!