Most of these photos show disaster relief operations staged before Rodrigo Duterte became President of the Philippines
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on November 25, 2019 at 09:00
- 4 min read
- By AFP Philippines
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The photos were published here on Facebook on November 4, 2019. The post has been shared 55 times after being published in a group with more than 28,000 followers.
It was published just days after two back-to-back earthquakes rocked the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.
The 6.5-magnitude earthquake on October 31 and the 6.6-magnitude earthquake on October 29 killed at least 21 and left tens of thousands displaced and struggling to access food and water, according to this AFP report.
Below is a screenshot of the misleading post with the photos numbered by AFP:
The post’s Tagalog-language caption translates to English as: "Question from yellows, where is President Duterte after the earthquake in Mindanao?
"Answer: The President is in Thailand to attend the 35th ASEAN Summit. But he monitors the delivery of help to our fellow Filipinos affected by the earthquake in Mindanao.
"#RiseMindanao
#PrayForMindanao
#ILoveMindanao
"[Photos: CTTO]".
The term "yellows" is a pejorative epithet for members of the opposition Liberal Party.
The claim is misleading; reverse image searches and keyword searches found that three photos in the post -- the first, third and fourth -- were taken in October 2015 in the wake of Typhoon Koppu, which hit the Philippines during the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III. Duterte was elected president in May 2016.
The first photo was published here on October 21, 2015 by the Official Gazette, a Philippine government publication. Below is a screenshot comparison of photo in the misleading post (L) and the Official Gazette photo (R):
The Official Gazette post bears the headline: “AFP actions taken for #LandoPH -- October 21.”
“AFP” is an acronym for the Armed Forces of the Philippines and “Lando” is the local name of Typhoon Koppu, which brought torrential rains that triggered landslides and massive flooding. The storm killed at least 54 people, according to this AFP report.
The third and fourth photos were also taken after Typhoon Koppu and were traced to reports here and here by Rappler, a Philippine digital publication. Below is a screenshot comparison showing the third photo in the misleading post (L) and the Rappler photo (R):
The Rappler photo caption states: “FOOD PACKS. Relief goods are unloaded from a C-130 plane in Baler, Aurora.”
The Rappler article states in part: “Two government planes on Wednesday morning, October 21, carried thousands of relief goods to Aurora, one of the provinces worst hit by Typhoon Lando (international codename Koppu).”
Below is a screenshot comparison showing the fourth photo in the misleading post (L) and the Rappler photo (R):
The Rappler photo caption states: “RELIEF GOODS. Members of the Philippine Air Force bring relief goods to Aurora province, after it was struck by Typhoon Lando in October 2015.”
The second photo in the misleading Facebook post does show government relief efforts while Duterte was in office, but not in the aftermath of the Mindanao earthquakes. The image was taken after Typhoon Mangkhut hit the Philippines in September 2018. A reverse image search on Google found it was published in this report by the state-run Philippine Information Agency.
Below is a screenshot of the report:
The photo caption states: “Soldiers from 5th Infantry Division, Philippine Army based in Gamu town unload relief goods from Davao City. The relief goods were delivered to the severely affected families in Northern Luzon and CAR provinces on Sept. 20.”
The report reads in part: “Typhoon Ompong directly hit the northen [sic] Luzon provinces resulting in the lost several lives in Cagayan and CAR's provinces.” The article names Typhoon Mangkhut by its local name, Ompong, and refers to the Cordillera Administrative Region as CAR.
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