Video shows scene from 1986 film about Philippine communist insurgency

This article is more than one year old.
Published on June 24, 2022 at 06:39
Updated on June 24, 2022 at 06:50
2 min read
By AFP Philippines

A video with hundreds of thousands of views is circulating in the Philippines alongside the claim it shows communist rebels surrendering to the government of incoming leader Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who won the presidential election in May. In fact, the footage shows a scene from a Filipino film released in 1986 about the country's communist insurgency.

The video, which shows people lining up to lay down their guns while surrounded by men in uniform, was shared on Facebook on June 6.

The Tagalog-language post reads: "New People's Army surrenders / hope all surrender to the government and leave the mountains".

The communist New People's Army launched a rebellion to create a Maoist state in the Philippines in March 1969.

At its peak in the 1980s, the group had some 26,000 fighters in its ranks but the number has since dwindled, according to the military.

Outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte sought a peace deal with the rebels at the start of his term but talks collapsed in 2017, and he branded the NPA a "terrorist" organisation.

Screenshot of misleading post taken on June 22, 2022

The video garned more than 190,000 views on TikTok and Facebook alongside a similar claim.

"It's the start of the Uniteam…they responded to the call for unity", reads the caption on the TikTok clip, referring to Marcos Jr's campaign slogan.

Many social media users appeared to believe the video showed a real incident.

"Congratulations Uniteam. I salute you for making them surrender," read one comment.

"Thank you for coming back to the fold, so we can go back to the province to live in peace," another said.

However, multiple keyword searches on Google did not find any recent reports about communist rebels surrendering to Marcos Jr -- whose term starts on June 30.

In fact, the video featured in the posts was taken from Filipino "Gabi Na, Kumander (It Is Night, Commander)", released in 1986.

VIVA Films -- the Philippine entertainment firm that produced the movie -- uploaded the full film on YouTube on January 12, 2022.

The scene featured in the misleading posts corresponds to the film's one-hour 12-minute mark.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video shared in one of the misleading posts (left) and the scene from the original film (right):

The movie tells the story of two brothers, one of whom becomes a communist rebel while the other a soldier assigned to fight the insurgents.

It won Best Picture in the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences Awards in 1987.

AFP has previously debunked misinformation about the New People's Army here, here and here.

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