Former Philippine senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, speaks after filing his candidacy for the country's 2022 presidential race, at Sofitel Harbor Garden Tent in Pasay on October 6, 2021. ( POOL / Rouelle Umali)

Posts falsely claim media 'did not cover' Marcos Jr's attendance at memorial for slain policemen

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on December 24, 2021 at 08:37
  • 3 min read
  • By AFP Philippines

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Posts circulating online in the Philippines claim "mainstream media" organisations did not report that presidential aspirant Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr -- son and namesake of the former dictator -- joined a memorial event in 2015 for dozens of slain police officers. In fact, the posts are the latest false claim shared by Marcos Jr's supporters about media coverage of the presidential frontrunner. Various Philippine media organisations reported on his appearance at the memorial in 2015.

The claim was shared here on Facebook on November 26.

The post shows a photo of Marcos Jr -- the frontrunner in the 2022 Philippine presidential elections according to a recent survey -- with a group of men wearing military fatigues standing behind him.

A screenshot of the misleading post taken on December 24, 2021

The photo's caption states in part: "Factk (sic) our mainstream media! Look at the grief of this man!

"How come we didn’t know about this?! He saluted every single SAF-44 then but not a single fcking (sic) media told us about it! To think, Noynoy Aquino was not here to receive them!!!"

"SAF-44" refers to 44 members of the Special Action Force -- Philippine police commandos -- killed in a botched anti-terror mission in the rural, southern town of Mamasapano in 2015. AFP reported on the incident here.

The post also refers to then President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III not attending the memorial for the slain policemen, for which he was criticised. The Philippine Star reported on the negative public reaction at the time.

Similar posts were also shared on Facebook here and here, and on Twitter here.

"The mainstream media is showing how rotten and deceitful they are!" one social media user wrote in response to the claim.

Another commented: "They did not report on that because Aquino held the media by the neck!"

In reality, multiple media organisations reported on Marcos Jr's attendance at the 2015 memorial.

Keyword searches found Philippine broadcaster ABS-CBN, one of the biggest news organisations in the country, published this report about the event on January 29, 2015.

It included an image that corresponds with the photo in the misleading posts.

"Sen. Bongbong Marcos pays respects to fallen SAF commandos at the Villamor Air Base", ABS-CBN reported.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading posts (L) and the photo in ABS-CBN's report (R) with similar elements circled in red by AFP:

( Screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading posts (left) and the ANC photo (right) / )

ABS-CBN interviewed Marcos Jr about the memorial here.

He could also be seen at the one-hour eight-minute and 20-second mark of this live report of the event aired by GMA News on January 29, 2015.

Further keyword searches found the Philippine Star, Inquirer and Rappler were among the other media organisations that reported Marcos Jr attended the memorial.

AFP previously debunked misleading posts about the media's coverage of Marcos Jr here.

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