Clip of Philippine president at campaign rally doctored to add cheers for Duterte
- Published on February 19, 2025 at 06:55
- 4 min read
- By Jan Cuyco, AFP Philippines
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The video -- shared on TikTok on February 12 -- purportedly shows a crowd chanting "Duterte, Duterte!" while Marcos delivers a speech inside a stadium.
Superimposed text on the video reads: "Supporters are crying 'Duterte'. This is embarrassing for BBM and the senators," referring to Marcos' initials.
The video was reposted several times on Facebook and TikTok here and here with the claim.
The posts circulated after campaigning began on February 11 in the Philippines for mid-term elections that could set the table for the next presidential race and determine the future of impeached Vice President Sara Duterte (archived link).
The May 12 vote will fill more than 18,000 posts nationwide -- including 12 vacancies in the Senate, which will decide on her impeachment.
The vice president, whose alliance with Marcos has imploded spectacularly, was charged by the House of Representatives in February with "violation of the constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes".
Some users appeared to believe the video was genuine.
"Even if that is Marcos's bailiwick, there are still a lot of solid Duterte fans there," one user said.
"Where does that leave you? The people are crying Duterte. That means the people dislike you," another commented, mocking Marcos.
But the video was edited to make it appear the crowd was shouting ex-president Duterte's name.
Edited video
At the beginning of the clip, the LED screen displays the phrase "Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas" (Tagalog for "Alliance for a New Philippines") -- an alliance of senatorial candidates fielded by the Marcos administration.
The logo of the Philippines' Presidential Broadcast Staff Radio Television Malacanang (RTVM) is also visible on the top right portion of the video.
Using these visual clues, AFP conducted keyword searches on YouTube and found a livestream of a rally held by the alliance on February 11 in Laoag city, Ilocos Norte (archived link).
The false video matches several scenes from the RTVM's livestream -- including at the 3:11, 15:16 and 16:07 timestamps -- but no chants of Duterte can be heard in the clip.
As Marcos starts his speech at around the livestream's 15-minute mark, the audience clad in red -- the political colour of Marcos -- can be heard shouting "BBM", not "Duterte".
An AFP journalist reviewed livestreams of the event aired by other local media outlets -- including GMA News and Inquirer.net -- and did not hear chants of Duterte's name (archived links here and here).
Unrelated audio
The audio in the false posts can be traced to a recent gathering of Filipinos in Singapore.
In a Facebook video posted on February 9, 2025, people can be heard chanting "Duterte, Duterte" as they gather around Filipino senator Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada, who won a senate seat while on trial for corruption in May 2022 (archived links here and here).
The audio in the false video can be heard starting from the 13-second mark of the Facebook video.
"Meeting the senator Jinggoy Estrada and ma'am Precy Ejercito Estrada at Lucky Plaza Orchard Singapore," the Facebook video's caption says.
Live videos of the gathering were posted on the same day on Estrada's official Facebook page, where the senator said he was meeting overseas Filipino workers (archived links here and here).
Philippine media reported former president Rodrigo Duterte endorsed Estrada's bid for the Senate in 2022 (archived link).
Photos of the Lucky Plaza in Singapore on Google Maps match the location seen in the Facebook video (archived link).
AFP previously debunked a post that falsely claimed a crowd chanted "Duterte" in front of Marcos at a national sports event in 2024.
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