A Facebook (FB) video supposedly showing the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. questioning Filipinos who voted for actors into the Senate is gaining traction. This is a tampered version of a photo of the ousted leader shortly after he was exiled to Hawaii.
The video is what is called a ‘cheap fake’. Marcos had long died before the actors mentioned in the clip got elected to the Senate. While several netizens pointed out that the video was fake, others thought otherwise and said: “Correct si fm eh bobo mga nagboto sa kanila ([Marcos] was correct, those who voted for them are fools).”
The manipulated video animated an old photo of Marcos to make it look like he was riled up by actors-turned-senators Robinhood “Robin” Padilla, Manuel “Lito” Lapid, Ramon “Bong” Revilla” Jr. and Jose “Jinggoy Estrada Ejercito Jr.
“Mga convicted, plunderer, ano’ng mangyayari sa atin? Eh kawawa kayo eh lalo kayong babagsak. Ano’ng gagawin ni Robin Padilla, ni Lito Lapid, ni Bong Revilla, ni Jinggoy Estrada. Aba, susmaryosep! Aba’y nasisiraan na yata ng ulo ang Pilipinas!“
([They] are convicts and plunderers, what will happen to us? You are pitiful and you will fall even more. What will Robin Padilla, Lito Lapid, Bong Revilla, Jinggoy Estrada do?) (Let out an expression of frustration – The Philippines seems to have lost its mind!)
Padilla was convicted in 1994 for illegal possession of firearms, but was granted absolute pardon in 2016. Revilla and Estrada were imprisoned in 2014 for graft and corruption but the former was later cleared of the charges while the latter is out on bail. Lapid faces a reinvestigation after the Supreme Court reversed the junking of a graft charge against him in 2019.
Reverse image search shows that the fake video used an Associated Press photo of Marcos Sr. taken on Feb. 28, 1986 at the Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, Hawaii. At the time, Marcos Sr. addressed Filipinos days after fleeing the Philippines following the People Power Revolution.
(Read: VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Video of Marcos Sr. taking a jab at voters supporting a tax evader FAKE)
The video animated the head, mouth, eyebrows, and eyes on the Marcos Sr. photo to make it look like he was actually talking. His hands and body did not move at all.
This is an example of a “cheap fake,” where photos or videos are altered through easily-accessible editing software, according to MediaWise, a digital literacy project of the non-profit media organization Poynter.
The FB video got a total of over 202,752 interactions. It appeared three days after Senators Padilla, Estrada, and Lapid backed the “Love the Philippines” campaign of the Department of Tourism that recently blundered for posting a misleading tourism ad.
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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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