Netizens revived an unverified 10-year-old audio clip of the late ousted president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. where he criticized his successor Corazon “Cory” Aquino for not allowing the operation of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).
A TikTok user posted on May 28 a video, which was reuploaded by a Facebook (FB) user on June 1 and continues to draw comments. It featured a 48-second-clip with an in-video-text that read: “Binilinan Ka Pala dmo ginawa (sic) | nagka letse letse Pilipinas dahil sa inio (You were instructed and you didn’t do it | the Philippines got into so much trouble because of you).”
There are no official documents, recordings, or news articles verifying the authenticity of this alleged recording of Marcos Sr. that first appeared on social media in 2012. VERA Files Fact Check had previously debunked this claim.
In a 2014 Interaksyon article, journalist Joel C. Paredes quoted a similar version of the statement allegedly made by Marcos but did not vouch for its authenticity. He pointed out that pro-Marcos supporters have been using that quote in a campaign to revive the BNPP.
Part of the unverified audio clip claimed that Aquino refused to follow Marcos’ suggestion to continue the BNPP’s operation because the power plant would remind people of the Marcoses.
This is not true. The nuclear power plant was never commissioned. Aquino issued Executive Order No. 55 in 1986 to mothball the BNPP due to reasons of “safety and economy.” It was partly because of the nuclear plant’s US$2.1 billion cost, of which US$1.2 billion remained unpaid at the time.
The other concern raised was the location of the nuclear plant, as it stands close to an earthquake fault line and a potentially active volcano.
The video came on the heels of President Rodrigo Duterte’s comments on May 23 that he wants the next administration to explore the possibility of tapping nuclear power for the country’s energy needs.
The TikTok clip has over 63,700 comments, while the FB video has drawn 77,000 reactions and 3.4 million views over the past 24 hours.
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