Military trucks clip falsely linked to Philippine anti-corruption protests

Published on September 29, 2025 at 09:00
2 min read
By Jan Cuyco, AFP Philippines

Thousands rallied in the Philippine capital Manila on September 21, 2025 to vent their anger over a ballooning scandal involving bogus flood-control projects, but rumours that the government deployed military trucks to the site of one of the demonstrations are false. AFP journalists who covered the protests did not see such vehicles, and the video shared in the posts is from an event in the archipelago's south.

"Luneta Park update now," says the caption of a TikTok video posted September 21, referring to an urban park in Manila and one of the main protest venues.

The clip -- viewed at least 46,000 times -- shows a convoy of military trucks.

Peaceful anti-corruption demonstrations filled with families, activists and clergy were overshadowed by street battles that saw police vehicles set ablaze and the windows of a precinct headquarters shattered (archived link).

More than 200 people -- including dozens of children -- were arrested in clashes, police said the day after the protest.

Screenshot of the false TikTok post taken September 25, 2025, with a red X mark added by AFP

The video surfaced in several other TikTok posts, generating comments from users who appeared to believe troops were deployed to quell the protests.

"The rallyists should be scared," one wrote. Another said: "They are there because people got hurt during the rallies."

But three AFP journalists who covered the protests in Luneta Park did not see military trucks there, contrary to the circulating posts (archived link).

An analysis of the circulating video found a banner in one of the street lamps that matches a festival poster in Bansalan town in Mindanao island in southern Philippines (archived link).

Subsequent keyword searches found the circulating footage corresponds to a higher quality video posted on Facebook on September 17, days before the protests (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the false TikTok video (L) and the Facebook video uploaded September 17

The Facebook user, a resident of Bansalan town who identifies as Rechel Ching, told AFP it was taken during celebrations for Bansalan Day.

"The military trucks were passing by while the street dance competition was ongoing" on the same main street, she said.

One of the trucks at the 21-second mark also bore the label "ASCOM 9FFSU" -- a shorthand for the 9th Forward Service Support Unit of the Philippine Army Support Command.

Screenshot of the false TikTok video, with the military unit name plastered on the truck zoomed in using the magnifier tool from the Verification Plugin, also known as InVID-WeVerify

When shown the circulating video, a spokesperson for the unit confirmed it had passed through Bansalan on the day.

"We were conducting logistics visits to other units that day," the official told AFP.

Images on Google Maps Street View show the video was taken from a pedestrian footbridge along the Davao-Cotabato national road (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the false TikTok video (L) and the Google Maps Street View image of the Davao-Cotabato road in Bansalan area

AFP has fact-checked other misinformation that swirled over the flood-control corruption scandal.

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