President Ferdinand Marcos allegedly threatened Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin over China’s new detention policy, a YouTube video claimed. This is not true.
Published on May 19, the four-minute video continues to gain traction. Its headline read:
“COMMANDER IN CHIEF PINAG BANTAAN SI SPOX WANG! SINONG TINAKOT MO? WALANG KWENTA MONG BATAS (The Commander-In-Chief threatened Spokesperson Wang! Who are you scaring? Your law is useless).”
The video’s thumbnail carried text that was implied to be a direct quote from Marcos where he outrightly said the Philippines will directly confront China if Filipinos are arrested over China’s new policy. It read:
“PBBM: KUNG AARESTUHIN TAYO EDI MAG TIRAHAN NA PUMALAG KAYO. DI KAMI TAKOT SA GULO (If we’re going to be arrested, then let’s just shoot each other. Fight back. We’re not afraid of conflict).”
In an attempt to prove the video’s claim, its narrator flashed two clips: one of a Marcos interview where he expressed his objection to China’s policy, and another of a speech where he said the country must defend its territory from “intruders.”
The original videos of Marcos showed a much tamer reaction to China’s new policy, and the chief executive never threatened Wang nor did he attempt to provoke China to go to war.
The first clip was taken from Marcos’ May 18 media interview where he said China’s new policy to detain alleged trespassers in the South China Sea is “completely unacceptable.”
The second clip used in the spurious video was taken during the May 18 commencement exercises of Philippine Military Academy graduates where Marcos emphasized that defending the country’s territorial integrity must be “guided by laws and responsibility as a rules-abiding member of the community of nations.”
The video with the false claim appeared days after China allowed its coast guard to detain for up to 60 days foreign trespassers suspected of illegally crossing China’s border.
YouTube channel Melvs Castle (created on Dec. 2, 2011) published the erroneous video, garnering over 121,000 views and 4,400 online interactions.
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