Image of 2021 Afghan evacuees misrepresented as refugees heading to the Philippines

The image, showing a number of passengers crammed on the floor of a plane, was shared on Facebook on June 26, 2023. A superimposed text on the photo reads: "Afghan 'Refugees' on their way to Subic!"

Subic is a town north of the capital Manila where a US military base was positioned until the early 1990s.

The Tagalog-language caption to the post reads in part, "Do you agree that the Philippines should receive around 50,000 Afghan refugees as requested by the US of A? Why or why not?"

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Screenshot of the false post taken on July 5, 2023

The photo started to circulate on social media as the Philippine Senate's foreign relations committee began discussions for a plan to temporarily house thousands of Afghans awaiting resettlement in the United States.

According to an AFP report, Manila received a request from Washington in October last year to temporarily host about 50,000 Afghan citizens, including the families of those who had worked with the US government.

Tens of thousands of Afghans fled their country in the chaotic evacuation of August 2021, as the US and allied forces pulled out of Afghanistan, marking the end to America's longest war.

The photo was also shared here and here on Facebook with a similar claim.

Comments on the posts show people believed "Afghan refugees" were already en route to the Philippines.

"Why are there so many of them...Enough for them to build (sic) their own rules? Big no, no, no," one wrote.

"Don't let them enter the Philippines, we might suffer the same plight as their country," commented another.

There were others who showed sympathy, with one saying: "They are human beings and they need help."

But a reverse search using Google Images found the posts misrepresented the photo.

Old picture

The iconic image was originally posted on the website of the US Air Force (archived link).

Its caption states: "A U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III safely transported 823 Afghan citizens from Hamid Karzai International Airport, Aug. 15, 2021. The initial count of 640 passengers included only adults, inadvertently leaving off 183 children seated in laps as passengers were transported from the flight line. The correct total passenger count of 823 is a record for the C-17."

AFP reported the aircraft left the Afghan capital Kabul and was then headed to Qatar.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the misrepresented photo in one of the false posts (left) and the original image (right):

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Screenshot comparison

The image was also published by news organisations such as The Washington Post, Gulf News and The Bangkok Post (archived links here, here and here).

On June 29, days after the false post circulated online, President Ferdinand Marcos told reporters his administration is still studying the proposal to host Afghan citizens in the country (archived link).

"There's still quite a few issues that we have to hammer out with the Americans. In principle, we would like to help," Marcos said.

"But again, we have to make sure that it's not something that will affect the lives of ordinary Filipinos," he added.