A Facebook user posted a video claiming to show mounting tension as rallyists attempted to penetrate a police barricade on the first day of Iglesia ni Cristo’s “Rally for Transparency and a Better Democracy” in Mendiola. This is not true.
The footage was actually taken on May 1 during a Labor Day protest along Recto Avenue in Manila, not on Mendiola Street.
Posted on Nov. 16, the video has an overlaid text that reads: “MENDIOLA TODAY (NOV. 16, 2025)”
Based on reverse image search, the original one-minute and two-second video was taken and published by FB page MetroFeed on May 1. The post’s caption read:
“WATCH: Protesters break through the police’s anti-riot barricades along Recto, Manila, to hold their Labor Day program in Mendiola on Thursday, May 1.”
VERA Files Fact Check geolocated the video using visual landmarks and confirmed that the rally in the clip took place along Recto Avenue, not in the Mendiola area as the FB post claimed. The two-day INC rally, on the other hand, was held at the Rizal Park, not in Mendiola or Recto.
In a Nov. 16 press release, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) reported that the first day of the INC’s anti-corruption protest “remained generally peaceful,” noting that “no untoward incidents were recorded.”
Both the National Capital Region Police Office and acting PNP chief Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. also said the rally was “peaceful.”
A keyword search on Google yielded no credible or verified news reports about a clash that occurred between protesters and police during the rally. A Nov. 16 GMA News Online report noted that “no notice of rallies or assemblies (were) scheduled” in Mendiola on that day. Bilyonaryo News Channel also reported that no rallyists were spotted in Mendiola on Nov. 16.
The false FB clip carried a superimposed photo showing the barricades and heavy security blocking the roads in Mendiola for the planned three-day INC rally. A reverse image search revealed that it was originally published by SMNI News on Nov. 15.
In a Nov. 16 Inquirer report, DILG Secretary Jonvic Remulla was quoted as saying security was tightened in Mendiola following “lessons learned” from the anti-corruption rallies last Sept. 21.
The video with false context emerged on the same day the religious group INC kicked off its protest, supposedly from Nov. 16 to 18, but was concluded a day early on Nov. 17.
Published by FB user Tintinay Boblu (created on Apr. 18, 2023), the clip with untrue claim has garnered 3,100 reactions, 1,300 comments, 844 shares and 505,000 views as of writing.
