July 30, 2020

Atty. Cedrick Justice U. Capiral

City Legal Officer
City Government of Antipolo
Antipolo City, Philippines

Dear Atty. Capiral,

This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter related to our July 26, 2020 Fact Check “No, WHO
did NOT say the COVID-19 virus is airborne for 8 hours.”

We share your concern about being mentioned as among those who shared the false report that
appeared in India Time Mail.

As mentioned in our fact check, VERA Files’ social media monitoring tool has traced a
substantial part of the reach of India Time Mail’s false claim to the Facebook accounts of the
Antipolo City government and its mayor Andrea Ynares. That information shows how strongly
influential these Facebook accounts are in the eyes of the public.

In the fight against disinformation, the cardinal rule is never to share anything that has not been
verified to be true especially matters of health. That advice is important at this time that we are
dealing with a virulent virus.

And it is almost always true in cases like these and when the public is prone to paranoia that
people will ignore the caveats and the qualifications and focus on the alarming nature of the
report. This only highlights the extreme care our authorities need to exercise when sharing stories
such as what appeared in the India Time Mail.

We will publish your letter to us and this reply so that the public will be clarified on this matter.

Very truly yours,

Ellen T. Tordesillas

Unit 1402B, West Trade Center, 132 West Avenue, Quezon City 1104, Philippines • Tel. No. (632) 932 7827
• URL: http://verafiles.org • Email: newsroom@verafiles.org