A viral video on Facebook claims to show footage of a recent protest at the EDSA People Power Monument supposedly attended by members of Iglesia ni Cristo, United People’s Initiative and other groups calling for the resignation of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. This is false.
The video was taken in Dakar, Senegal in 2022 during a parade celebrating the first-ever victory of its national football team in the Africa Cup of Nations.
Only the UPI, a group led by retired military and police generals aligned with the Dutertes, held anti-corruption protests on EDSA on Nov. 16 and 17. The INC-led protesters held their two-day rally in Luneta, Manila on the same dates.
The 22-second video, uploaded by a Facebook page on Nov. 16, shows a long line of people, most of them wearing red, green, yellow and white, gathered in the middle of a road, along with several vehicles. The reel included a superimposed text that read:
“bumaba ka na bbm dikana gusto ng taong bayan. Ibalik ang pera Ng bayan. BBM RESIGN
(Step down BBM, the people do not like you anymore. Return the people’s money. BBM RESIGN)”
The post was captioned:
“PANOORIN: ‘BBM RESIGN!’ (WATCH: ‘BBM RESIGN’)
Members of the United People’s Initiative, Iglesia ni Cristo, and other groups calling for the resignation of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. gather at the EDSA People Power Monument in Quezon City”
A reverse image search using the keyframes of the reel led to an old video posted by an X (formerly Twitter) user on Feb. 8, 2022. The caption of the post read: “Dakar, Senegal, today celebrating winning the Africa cup.”
A copy of the same video was posted on the same date by Facebook page Zambian Landscape. “The people of Senegal fill the streets of the capital city Dakar to give their team a thunderous welcome after winning the Africa Cup of Nations,” the caption said.
On Feb. 7, 2022, Senegal’s national football team, the Teranga Lions, won the biennial Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in history. Thousands of people flocked to the country’s capital to welcome the team back home.
The false video surfaced after the INC and UPI held separate rallies to protest against corruption involving billions of pesos in public funds lost to anomalous flood control and other infrastructure projects. INC’s scheduled three-day protest at the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta was cut short on Nov. 17 after two days, while the Quezon City government denied UPI’s request to hold a third day of protest at the EDSA People Power Monument.
As of writing, the video posted by FB page Boy Saputon Vlog has so far garnered 182,000 views, 11,100 reactions, 2,700 shares and 583 comments.
