A video circulating online shows supporters of opposing candidates in a brawl supposedly ahead of the May 12 midterm elections. This is false. The clip was taken in 2023 during the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.
On May 5, at least three Facebook (FB) pages posted the 40-second video showing supporters of rival camps in a fistfight even as authorities try to deescalate the situation.
One of the posts carried the caption:
“Wala pang election mag papatayan na (It’s not yet election [day] but they are already about to kill one another).”
Netizens in the comment section asked when and where the footage was taken.
This brawl is not recent. It happened outside a polling precinct in Nunungan, Lanao del Sur during the 2023 local elections.
Several media outlets published a copy of the video credited to “ARED Macarambon of BARMM” on Oct. 30, 2023.
According to reports, the fight between the two camps started right before the opening of the polls.
The video circulated three days after the Philippine National Police (PNP) was placed under full alert status to ensure the conduct of an orderly and peaceful elections on May 12. As of May 2, the PNP has deployed 2,831 of its Special Electoral Board members in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
VERA Files has debunked other election-related mis- and disinformation ahead of the midterm polls.
The posts were from FB pages Duterte Family Update (created on Sept. 3, 2024 as Sïr Jâmês Afântê September 3, 2024), Trending Update Viral Update (created Aug. 12, 2023 as Chixx.) and Pilipinas kong Mahal (created on March 12, 2025).
