Viral video misleads with claim that the Philippines won a case filed against China in 2021
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on May 4, 2021 at 09:00
- 2 min read
- By AFP Philippines
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The video has been viewed more than a hundred thousand times since it was published here on YouTube on April 22, 2021.
Its Tagalog-language title translates as: “BREAKING NEWS TODAY APRIL 22, 2021 PRESIDENT DUTERTE PHILIPPINES WON IN CASE AGAINST CHINA”.
A portion of the video is overlaid with text that states: “CASE FILED AGAINST CHINA”.
The video circulated online as tensions heightened between Manila and Beijing in April 2021 over disputed areas in the South China Sea.
President Rodrigo Duterte is facing growing domestic pressure to take a harder line, but has been reluctant to confront Beijing as he fosters closer ties with the economic giant, AFP reported here.
An identical video was also shared and viewed millions of times here, here and here on Facebook; and here and here on YouTube.
But these posts are misleading.
Old footage
Visual clues followed by keyword searches on YouTube found the video is not “breaking news” but footage from old news reports.
The first minute of the misleading video corresponds to this news report aired by local media UNTV News on April 15, 2019.
The report states the Duterte government was not setting aside Manila’s arbitration victory in a case filed against Beijing in 2013, during the presidency of Benigno Aquino III.
The remaining portion of the video corresponds to this speech Duterte delivered on August 21, 2018 where he spoke about various topics including his relationship with his father, the 2017 siege in the southern Islamic city of Marawi, and his government’s brutal war against illegal drugs.
Below are screenshot comparisons showing frames in the misleading video (L) and their corresponding sources (R):
No 2021 case
Ivy Banzon-Abalos, head of strategic communications at the foreign affairs department, confirmed Manila has not filed a case against Beijing in April 2021 as the misleading posts claim.
“There is only that 2016 arbitral award by the [Permanent Court of Arbitration],” she told AFP on April 30, 2021.
Manila filed the arbitral case in January 2013 during the government of Duterte’s predecessor Benigno S. Aquino III, challenging Beijing’s claims to parts of the South China Sea.
The ruling in favour of the Philippines came out on July 12, 2016, in the early days of the Duterte presidency.
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