A video on YouTube is erroneously claiming that President Ferdinand Marcos laughed while talking about the case of a Filipino put to death in Saudi Arabia this month. This is misleading. A photo of a laughing Marcos in the video is unrelated to the execution.
On Oct. 13, a YouTube channel published the spurious video that bore the headline:
“KAKAPASOK LANG WALANG PUSO TALAGA! BBM TINAWANAN LANG YUNG BINITAY NA PINOY SARA DUTERTE 2028 SANA!
(Just in, he really has no heart! Marcos just laughed at the Filipino who was executed. Hope Sara Duterte [becomes president] in 2028!)”
The video’s thumbnail showed an image of Marcos laughing, implying that it was the very moment the president laughed over the issue. The 16-minute video also showed a short clip of Marcos seemingly letting out a chuckle mid-speech while being interviewed by the press on the incident.
These are misleading. The full interview of Marcos on the issue showed a picture different from what was claimed by the YouTube channel. The image used in the thumbnail was also given the wrong context.
In the original Oct. 8 UNTV report, Marcos was serious in answering reporters who asked him about the execution of the Filipino. But when he started talking about appealing to the “better natures” of Saudi Arabia officials to change their minds, he let out a cynical chuckle for a brief moment.
A reverse image search revealed that the photo of Marcos used in the misleading thumbnail was a screenshot taken during his March 4 interview with Australian journalist Sarah Ferguson when he was asked about his family’s ill-gotten wealth. Marcos first laughed about it before he was pressed by Ferguson to answer the question.
The misleading video emerged a week after a Filipino, who was convicted of murdering a Saudi national, was executed in Saudi Arabia despite efforts by the Philippine government, including a a presidential appeal, to stop it.
YouTube channel AGILA NG BAYAN (created on Feb. 13, 2023) published the video, garnering over 22,300 views and 500 online interactions.
Similar misleading claims of Marcos laughing at the fate of the executed Filipino were also made by YouTube channels The General’s Viewpoint (Dec. 31, 2023) and Jojo De Guzman KonekTV (March 2, 2012), their videos collectively garnering over 199,000 views and 18,000 online engagements.
