Several social media pages are spreading a video showing a massive gathering supposedly in the Netherlands in support of former president Rodrigo Duterte. This is false.
On March 13, several copies of the same spurious video were circulated by various online pages. One of the posts bore the caption:
“Situation ngaun SA ICC Netherlands mga supporters Ng ating Mahal na FPRRD nagtipon tipon para ipakita SA buong mundo ang supporta nila Kay tatay digong..maraming salamat SA inyo kagitingan mga kabataan
(The situation right now at the [International Criminal Court] Netherlands. Supporters of our beloved former president Rodrigo Duterte gathered to show the world their support for Tatay Digong. Thank you for your bravery, young people).”
The seven-second video showed people marching on the street while waving flags of red, white and blue with a coat of arms – a glaring sign when these online pages are claiming Filipinos are gathering in the area. People chanting “Duterte! Duterte!” can be heard in the background.
A cursory online search reveals that the original video was taken in Serbia, not in The Netherlands.
From two separate footage taken at different angles during demonstrations of Serbians against their government last March 1, identifiable landmarks in the erroneous video reveal that Niš, Serbia is the actual location where the footage was taken.
(Click the photos to go to their original sources)
The waves of mis- and disinformation related to Duterte’s March 11 arrest continue to flood the internet as the former president awaits trial in The Hague. He has been in custody of the ICC at the Scheveningen detention center.
Facebook page PROTECT VICE PRESIDENT SARA DUTERTE (created on Aug. 25, 2019) and two other users published the video, collectively garnering over 1,350 reactions, 260 comments, 1,000 shares and 142,000 views. It was also published by user balitampinas on TikTok.
