A video published by several accounts on Facebook (FB) and YouTube showing a man accosting a woman in a hotel corridor is spuriously being claimed to show Christine Dacera, the flight attendant found dead in a hotel room on New Year’s Day.
The footage, which circulated between Jan. 5 and 9, is actually that of a 2016 kidnapping attempt in a Beijing hotel caught on a CCTV camera. The clip went viral in China and was reported by several news outlets.
In April 2016, a woman by the name of Wanwan on Chinese social media platform Weibo identified herself to be the girl in the video. Media reports said Wanwan was looking for her room keys when a man “hit, grabbed, and dragged” her while a hotel employee and some onlookers did nothing, until another woman helped her.
The original video, a recording of the CCTV footage as it played on a monitor, was uploaded on Chinese video hosting platform Youku on April 5 that year.
Local FB page Buhay OFw was among the first to re-post the video and wrongly connected it to the Dacera case. Its version appears to be a screen recording from YouTube, which was wrongfully headlined as “actual CCTV footage” of Dacera. But the exact post could not be found on the platform.
The audio was also altered to just play instrumental background music. People speaking in Mandarin could be heard in the original video on Youku.
In its caption, the FB page asked its readers to judge for themselves whether the video, which has been shared over 4,200 times, shows Dacera: “VIRAL: ACTUAL CCTV FOOTAGE DAW NI MISS CHRISTINE DACERA. …FAKE NGA BA O TOTOO? KAU NA ANG HUMUSGA (Actual CCTV footage reportedly of Miss Christine Dacera…Is it fake or true? You be the judge).”
One netizen commented, “may CCTV na pero walang umaksyon (There is CCTV footage, but no one took action).”
Another said, “Hotel dapat sisihin din nkita na nila sa cctv bkit Hindi p nila inaksyunan na my ngaganap ng harrasment (The hotel should also be blamed. They saw it on the CCTV, but they did not take action on the harassment as it happened).”
Buhay OFw’s false post has gotten over 1.3 million views, and more than 10,000 reactions that are mostly sad and angry.
FB page OFW Updates Worldwide and YouTube channel Ian Naranja SHOW uploaded the video on Jan. 5 while FB page Adict sa mobie and YouTube channel Jorge Llagas Official followed suit on Jan. 6 and 9, respectively.
The years-old video surfaced four days after Dacera was found dead in a hotel bathtub in Makati. The case has been riddled with controversy and remains unresolved.
Buhay OFw was created on Jan. 9, 2020.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
