Two Facebook (FB) videos used altered and spliced clips to falsely claim that First Lady Liza Marcos has been detained in the United States.
Uploaded on March 28, the manipulated video carried superimposed texts that read:
“Di na matatago ng media balitang balita pati sa ibang bansa
(The media can no longer hide it—it’s making headlines even abroad)
Liza Marcos detained CONFIRMED!!!”
Another video, posted on March 29, bore the same texts with the caption:
“Di na talaga maitago si Liza Marcos na parehas na Silang dalawa ni FPRRD na Detained Sa ibang bansa Bring Him Back Home Ninyo Sila.
(It can no longer be hidden that both Liza Marcos and FPRRD are now detained abroad. Bring them back home.)”
FPRRD refers to former president Rodrido Duterte who is now held in a detention facility in The Hague in Netherlands in connection with his bloody war on drugs.
Other copies republished on FB and TikTok, sent by readers through VERA Files’ Messenger Misinformation Tipline, bore a superimposed text that reads:
“First Lady Liza Marcos nakakulong na?!
(First Lady Liza Marcos is now in jail?!)”
The spurious FB posts used an altered clip from a March 13 ABS-CBN News Channel 24/7 news report about Malacañang’s denial of Marcos being detained.
”There is no truth that FL was held by any law enforcers while in LA or and in any other place,” Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro told reporters.
The clip was spliced to falsely suggest the report confirmed Liza Marcos’ detention, starting with, “First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos has been detained in Los Angeles.” However, the full news clip actually reports that Malacañang refuted the claim, adding that Marcos was in L.A. for the Manila International Film Festival.
The false posts circulated on social media a day after the First Lady hosted a cocktail reception at Malacañang to celebrate Women’s Month with women ambassadors and female spouses of heads of diplomatic missions in the Philippines.
Initially posted by an FB user, the altered clip was republished by another netizen, and the page Magnificent Tourist Spot Destination (created on Sept. 18, 2020), which bore a profile picture of former president Rodrigo Duterte with the text “Freedom for Duterte.”
The three spliced videos on FB collectively garnered over 6.2 million views, 27,900 reactions, 7,100 comments, and 25,400 shares. Other copies reposted on TikTok have received 5,013 reactions, 595 comments, and 574 shares.
