No, this photo does not show the Philippine government distributing emergency supplies in preparation for Typhoon Mangkhut

This article is more than one year old.
Published on September 25, 2018 at 09:26
1 min read

Multiple websites ran a picture showing relief goods being unloaded from a plane alongside a claim that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s government sent relief supplies to at-risk areas before they were hit by Typhoon Mangkhut. A reverse image search found the photograph was of relief goods distribution for a 2015 typhoon -- before Duterte was president.

Posts like this and this claim Duterte “distributed relief goods early in areas that will be hit by the typhoon”.

The posts were accompanied by this photo:

Screenshot of misleading image

A reverse image search revealed that the picture first appeared online on an official Philippine government website in 2015.

According to the site, the image shows relief goods being unloaded during Typhoon Koppu in October 2015, when Benigno Aquino was the country’s leader.

The Philippine Air Force official website also published the photo in October 2015, saying it was from Typhoon Koppu relief efforts.

Duterte was elected president in May 2016.

Screenshot of CrowdTangle data

The misleading image has been shared over 17,000 times to Facebook groups and pages with combined followers of nearly four million. These groups and pages are pro-Duterte.

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No, this photo does not show the Philippine government distributing emergency supplies in preparation for Typhoon Mangkhut

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