A Facebook (FB) page claimed in a graphic that the City of Pearl infrastructure project is part of the flagship infrastructure programs of former president Rodrigo Duterte and incumbent President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos. Not true. It is a public-private partnership project entered into by the City of Manila in 2017.
FB page PBBM News uploaded the post on Nov. 25, with an in-graphic text that read in part:
“City of Pearl ang isa sa mga proyekto sa ilalim ng Build Build Build ni PRRD na itutuloy sa ilalim ng Build Better More ni PBBM (City of Pearl is one of the projects under [former president Rodrigo Duterte’s] Build Build Build, which will be continued under the Build Better More of [Marcos].”
City of Pearl, a 407-hectare reclamation project adjacent to Manila’s South Harbor Port, is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in the Philippines. Government records show it is not under Duterte’s Build, Build, Build or Marcos’ Build Better More infrastructure programs.
A memorandum of understanding was signed on Feb. 7, 2017 between the City of Manila, the Philippine Reclamation Authority, and UAA Kinming, a consortium of Filipino and Chinese developers behind the infrastructure project.
PBBM News (created on Jan. 27, 2022 under the name Supporters of BBM SARA) created the false graphic that garnered a total of 913 reactions, 72 comments, and 45 comments. This is not the first from this FB page. VERA Files Fact Check has also debunked other claims it posted.
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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.)
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