A YouTube video claims President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. supposedly skipped the 2024 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Peru to avoid the drug testing required for the event. This is false.
Marcos did not attend the summit to focus on the government’s disaster response, according to the Presidential Communications Office (PCO). Acting Trade and Industry Sec. Ma. Cristina Roque went on his behalf.
Uploaded on Nov. 8, a day after Malacanang announced Marcos would not attend the APEC Summit, the video bore the headline:
“BBM NATAKOT SA DRÚGTESTING SA APEC KAYA PALA DI DUMALO? ISINIWALAT NG WARAY (BBM got scared of drug testing in APEC so he did not attend? Exposed by Waray).”
Its thumbnail carried a similar text.
In a Nov. 8 press briefing, PCO Acting Sec. Cesar Chavez said that Marcos will forego the APEC Leaders’ Week in Lima to prioritize “domestic concerns, including government responses to calamities.”
The country was battered by six tropical cyclones, three of them super typhoons, in less than a month starting last Oct. 22 – Severe Tropical Storm Kristine (Trami), Super Typhoon Leon (Kong-Rey), Typhoon Marce (Yinxing), Typhoon Nika (Toraji) Super Typhoon Ofel (Usagi) and Super Typhoon Pepito (Man-yi).
The summit in Lima was held Nov. 14 to 16 but it was preceded by many meetings and other related activities from Nov. 9.
The video, which was merely clickbait, did not show proof to support its claim. It only featured a vlogger as well as social media users who alleged that Marcos was scared of undergoing a drug test so he skipped the summit.
Uploaded by YouTube channel Robin Sweet Showbiz (created July 25, 2017), the video received over 45,799 interactions.
