Image of Philippine vice president misleadingly linked to overseas trip during typhoon
- Published on August 30, 2024 at 10:40
- 3 min read
- By Lucille SODIPE, AFP Philippines
Copyright © AFP 2017-2024. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
"The typhoon has already entered the Philippine area of responsibility but she still went ahead with her trip," read a Tagalog-language Facebook post on July 25, 2024.
It featured a blurry image of Duterte appearing to wear a Taylor Swift Eras Tour shirt.
The image had been overlaid with text that said: "She went away in the middle of a typhoon when there's work to be done."
Additional text below the image read: "VP Sara wearing her Taylor Swift merchandise."
The post appears to refer to rumours that Duterte took a trip to Germany to watch Taylor Swift, whose Eras Tour had skipped the Philippines (archived link).
She left on July 24 as monsoon rains intensified by Typhoon Gaemi pummelled the capital Manila and neighbouring areas (archived link).
Her office said in a statement the trip received the necessary government approvals beforehand and merely coincided with the typhoon (archived link).
Michael Poa, the vice president's spokesman, told AFP: "For the record, the VP did not watch the Taylor Swift concert in Germany."
AFP could not independently verify her activities while in the European country.
Duterte's image was also shared in similar posts on social media site X here and here and elsewhere on Facebook here, here and here.
Comments indicated people believed it was proof she attended Taylor Swift's concert during the typhoon.
One said, "You have misplaced priorities! Taylor Swift's concert is more important to you than personally attending to the typhoon victims!"
"You're too old to be preoccupied with Taylor Swift! You really spent money for that?" another commented.
The image, however, predates the typhoon by at least two months.
Local trip
A reverse image search on Google found it corresponds to a frame in a TikTok video posted on May 19, 2024.
"VP Sara is such a Swiftie," the caption read in an apparent reference to her shirt.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the image in the misleading posts (left) and the frame from the TikTok clip (right):
The video's location has been tagged at Baguio, a city in the northern Philippines.
The text "Eurotel Baguio" -- referring to a small chain of motels in parts of the country -- can be seen behind Duterte at the clip's six-second mark (archived link).
Below is a screenshot of the frame with the text highlighted:
A video published by state broadcaster RTVM shows Duterte attended the graduation rites of the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio on May 18, 2024 (archived link).
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
