Blaze at Indonesian government building falsely linked to Philippines' corruption scandal

Published on October 1, 2025 at 09:01
2 min read
By Jan Cuyco, AFP Philippines

As the Philippine public seethes over corruption in infrastructure projects believed to have cost taxpayers billions of dollars, a video of a burning building was shared in posts falsely claiming it showed the home of a contractor implicated in the ballooning scandal. The footage in fact shows a provincial government building in Indonesia set alight during protests in August 2025.

The video showing thick smoke billowing from a building with its interior engulfed in flames was shared on TikTok on September 14, 2025.

"The house of Sarah Discaya was burned," reads the Tagalog-language text on the video, referring to an owner of a construction firm implicated in a ballooning scandal involving bogus flood-control projects believed to have cost taxpayers billions of dollars (archived link).

Discaya and her husband and business partner, Pacifico Discaya, told a Senate hearing on September 8 that their construction firms had paid off 26 lawmakers and public works officials to secure government contracts (archived link).

Thousands of Filipinos rallied on September 21 in largely peaceful anti-corruption demonstrations in the capital Manila.

Screenshot of the false TikTok post captured on September 30, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

The clip was also shared in similar Facebook posts.

While protesters gathered in front of Discaya's compound in Pasig City in early September, there were no official reports of the site being set ablaze (archived link).

A representative of the Pasig City Bureau of Fire Protection also told AFP on September 30 there were no reports of a fire at Discaya's house in the last month.

Moreover, the video circulating online has previously been falsely linked to the "Gen Z" protest movement in Nepal.

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same footage published elsewhere on TikTok on August 30 (archived link).

"DPRD Mataram," reads its caption, referring to the regional representative council building in Indonesia's West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) province (archived here and here).

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the video posted on August 30 (right)

Similar visuals were shared by Indonesian news outlets Tribunnews and Suara NTB Daily, which reported the building was set ablaze in a demonstration on August 30 (archived here and here).

Indonesia was rocked by protests in major cities including the capital Jakarta after footage spread of a motorcycle taxi driver being run over and killed on August 28 by a police tactical vehicle in earlier rallies against low wages and financial perks for lawmakers (archived link).

A picture of the burned Indonesian government building is also available in AFP's photo archives.

People look at the West Nusa Tenggara Provincial Council office building, seen partially burned after being stormed, looted, and set on fire during a demonstration, in Mataram on Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara, on August 30, 2025. (AFP / STR)

AFP has previously fact-checked other misinformation on the public works scandal in the Philippines.

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