‘Gly Hol Busing, NLL. Quezon comer Cama Street, Sarangay San Roque, @ e6e0-4500 legate aniolocty@gmal com to iy, a 28 July 2020 VERA FILES newsroom@verafilesorg ‘Thru: Ms. ELLEN TORDESILLAS President Gentlemen: We write in reference to the article entitled “VERA FILES FACT CHECK: No, WHO did NOT say the COVID-19 virus is airborne for 8 hours" or https://www.verafiles, icles/vera-fil wh covid-19-virus-airb, which was posted in your website on 26 July 2020. In said article, you wrote that “Local Facebook (FB) pages— including the official accounts of the Antipolo City government and its mayor Andrean (sic) Ynares— shared an article by website India Time Mail falsely claiming the World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, “remains in the air for 8 hours.”. While it cannot be denied that the web article from India Time Mail was posted in the Facebook accounts ~ “Antipolo City Gov” and “Jun-Andeng Ynares” in July 2020, we would like to bring to your attention the relevant similarly worded captions that accompanied the link of the subject article in the both posts. Thus ~ “ Sabi sa pinakahuling pahayag ng WHO ngayong arato lamang, bagaman wala pang matibay na ebidensya, POSIBLENG "airborne" ‘ang pagpasa ng COVID-19. BAKA nagtatagal daco ito ng hanggang 8 oras sa hangin. Kung hindi po tayo susunod sa minimum health protocols tulad ng social distancing, pagsanitize at simpleng pagsusuot ng face mask... eh mas mataas ang chance na maharoa ka 0 makahawoa ka..KUNG SAKALING mapatunayan balang ara na totoo ang hinala ng = WHO at_—ilang medical —_ experts. ak CITY LEGAL OFFICE //S SS A, Ahairborne-and-“"remains-8-hours-in-the- air/#.XxBUkA aKEM.viber” A perusal of the above-quoted caption in the posts, with emphasis on the capitalized words “POSIBLENG”, "BAKA" and “KLING SAKALING’ therein, reveals that there was no intention whatsoever from the City Government of Antipolo and its Mayor, Hon. Andrea B. Ynares, to pass on the subject article as gospel truth or as a scientific fact. On the contrary, the caption makes it clear, if not stresses, that as depicted in your own article, the World Health Organization (WHO) only acknowledged the mere possibility of airborne transmission of SARS-COV-2 in public places. Despite the foregoing, you have singly named our City and Mayor in your article as amongst the alleged Filipino netizens and Philippine-based FB pages who “widely shared” the Indian article. Thus, your article unfairly portrayed us as a deliberate purveyor of fake news or someone who has been misled by one, at the very least. Considering you claim in your website that you correct substantive errors in your reports, we trust that you will make the necessary and appropriate correction, if not clarification, in light of the circumstances mentioned above and in the spirit of fair and accurate journalism, within a period of five (6) days from receipt hereof. Very truly yours, ATTY. CEDRICK JUSTICE U. CAPIRAL ‘egal Officer