Yet another 2018 video of Mayon Volcano, this time spouting lava and an ash plume, is circulating among netizens with the claim it is recent. This is false.
Shared as early as June 9 on Facebook (FB), the 22-second clip supposedly showed “live” footage of lava fountaining in Mayon. One of the circulating posts was captioned:
“Mayon volcano update today live now #eruptionvolcanmayon #BulkangMayon #tvnews.”
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has yet to record any occurrence of lava fountaining in Mayon since 2018.
In a June 16 email to VERA Files Fact Check, Phivolcs’ Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division chief Ma. Antonia Bornas said:
“Videos or photos of lava fountaining in Mayon are NOT current. Lava fountaining briefly occurred during the 2018 eruption and more spectacularly occurred for longer and intense periods during the 2000 and 2001 eruptions. These are the last eruptions in which fountaining occurred.”
Bornas explained that lava fountaining is caused by the streaming of volcanic gas in magma, which pushes it out in fountains. She said the 2023 eruption has so far been “gas-poor”, leading to low volcanic gas measurements and a very slow outpour of lava from the crater.
VERA Files Fact Check could not trace the original source of the circulating clip. However, several netizens uploaded videos of the same Jan. 23, 2018 eruption from different angles.
Photos published by the Albay Provincial Information Office’s FB page and Pacific Press Media Production Corp. also captured the same scene with the same ash plume pattern.
The false FB posts circulated a day after Mayon was placed under Alert Level 3 which means its tendency towards a hazardous eruption increased.
According to screenshots uploaded online, the FB page of Albay Rep. Joey Salceda also posted the outdated video but it has since been taken down.
VERA Files Fact Check has debunked another false re-circulation of a video of Mayon’s January eruption. (Read related story: Video of lava fountain in Mayon volcano is FROM 2018)
The erroneous video circulated by FB netizens and pages like LongBorz Tv (created on Oct. 26, 2021), Crabbler (Dec. 15, 2013 as Inday Affected) and CamSur News (Oct. 28, 2022) collectively garnered more than 119,200 views.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
