A reel of a masked man supposedly firing a slingshot supposedly at Malacañang Palace is circulating online. This is false.
The 25-second reel, posted between Sept. 20 and 22 on various social media sites timed around the Sept. 21 Trillion Peso March, showed a masked man using a slingshot outside a concrete wall with steel bars surrounding what is construed as the official residence and workplace of the president.
The video carried the following captions:
“Pintikon Malacañang be (Shoot Malacañang beh)” and “Tirahon be (Shoot beh).”
It also carried the text:
“Pintikon palasyo bi (Shoot the palace beh).”
The video’s focal point is the supposed presidential palace, with a masked protester firing at it three times using a slingshot. The individuals shown in the reel looked similar to those who engaged in a riot along Mendiola St. in Manila during the Trillion Peso March.
The video is false. The original footage was taken during a protest in Nepal, and the supposed Malacañang Palace featured in it is Nepal’s Parliament Building.
In the Sept. 21 rally, none of the protesters came close to the gates of Malacañang due to tight security. It was reported that four sets of barricades were seen around the palace while it was on lockdown.
The original viral post on Facebook with more than 10 million views has since been taken down, but similar posts were published on other social media platforms. The reposts seemed to be mocking the Sept. 21 march with its laugh track audio and laughing emojis.
Nepalese content creators uploaded the original video, with one post identifying the weapon used as “guleli,” commonly used to hunt small birds in Nepal.
The violent protest in Nepal, which began on Sept. 8 and ended on Sept. 13, overthrew the government.
VERA Files has debunked other falsified videos of protests.
The false posts have so far collectively garnered over 1,352 reactions; 62 comments; 404 shares; and 64,183 views.
Editor’s note: This fact check was produced with the help of a Communication Research student of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines as part of their internship at VERA Files.
