A video on Facebook is showing a massive protest supposedly happening in Manila last weekend, calling for the resignation of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. This is not true.
Several FB and TikTok users published the spurious video on Sept. 21, the same day tens of thousands of Filipinos held an anti-corruption protest march in Metro Manila and other urban centers around the country. One of the videos bore the caption:
“Grabe ano na nangyayari sa Pilipinas (Oh, no. What is happening in the Philippines) MARCOS RESIGN. 09.21.25.”
The video shows a top view shot of an evening crowd across a major thoroughfare, chanting and holding up banners and placards.
The videos were given a false context. A reverse image search revealed that the video was originally taken in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Last month, TikTok user mrdzi published the original video on Aug. 15 showing a group of people holding a solidarity protest to seek justice for the death of a student named Zara Qairina due to bullying.
Local reports in Malaysia stated that thousands of people attended the rally, dubbed as “No Justice, No Merdeka (Freedom)” by organizers calling for institutional reforms and voicing out dissatisfaction to their justice system in the handling of the student’s case.
The videos with the wrong context emerged on the day anti-corruption protesters gathered in Rizal Park in Manila and at the EDSA People Power Monument in Quezon City, dubbed respectively as “Baha sa Luneta” and “Trillion Peso March,” stemming from reports about widespread corruption in flood control and other government infrastructure projects.
At least two FB users and six TikTok users published the videos, collectively garnering over 2,450 views.
