(From left) Heart Evangelista and Sen. Chiz Escudero at the MEGA Ball in Shangri-La The Fort on Wednesday night, June 12. Image: Hannah Mallorca/INQUIRER.net

Heart Evangelista lamented how netizens fell victim to “fake news” again as she clarified that her husband, Senate president Chiz Escudero, is not pushing to reduce the holidays in the country.

Escudero earlier said in a press conference that there are already too many holidays in the country that it makes Filipino companies and workers “less competitive.” He further noted that the Senate agreed to “limit” non-working holidays, which may affect government service and private enterprises in terms of compensation.

This was met with criticisms from the public, with some leaving comments on Evangelista’s recent Instagram live with Escudero.

“‘Wag pong bawasan ang holiday,’” one of the netizen comments read.

Responding to this, Evangelista said, “Hindi po babawasan ang holiday. Fake news. Hindi lang dadagdagan.”

“So ‘wag na po kayo uminit ulo dahil hindi po siya babawasan,” she underscored. “Na-fake news nanaman tayo. Masyadong active sa social media.”

Escudero, for his part, also made clarifications on his earlier statement.

“There is no issue with the existing holidays. The Senate‘s stand is not to increase the number of existing holidays because there are too many already. We have no intention of reducing them,” he said in an ambush interview.

“As we have already said, the issue will demand lengthy discussions. Right now, we have more than 23 to 25 local and national holidays. Let’s not add more,” he added.