Maine Mendoza vehemently denied that government funds would be used on her vacation with her husband, Quezon City’s 1st district Rep. Arjo Atayde in Switzerland, Italy, and Greece.
The television host called out publishing giant Inquirer for allegedly trying to portray that taxpayers’ money would be spent for their trip as Atayde was on an official travel to Europe from August 5 to 27, 2023.
They were also scheduled to attend the 76th Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland as Arjo was part of the cast of one of the entries in the award ‘Topakk’.
“Huh? Fake news na naman. This seems to be written by an uninformed and privy writer. The headline is misleading and FALSE. Arjo will go to Locarno as his film is part of the Locarno film fest. Our PERSONAL trip after that is at PERSONAL expense.. out of our OWN pockets.” said Maine.
“Next time yung magagaling nating netizens kung walang time mag fact check, huwag padalos-dalos sa pag react. mema minsan. Pati kayo nagpapaloko sa maling balita at impormasyon. Sayang ang pagiging “woke” kung lahat nalang papaniwalaan,” she added.
However, Inquirer stood by their story, saying that their report was backed by documents and information from a ‘highly-placed source’ whom they refused to name.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives also denied that public funds would be used for Arjo and Maine’s trip.