An old, fake online post claiming that the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III had demolished the enormous bust of the late President Ferdinand Marcos in Benguet is being revived on social media.
Carrying a netizen’s photo of the bust taken in 1989 and uploaded to image sharing site Flickr, the post by Facebook page Duterte Supporters Worldwide bore the caption, “LOOK | Giniba ng nakaraang administrasyon ang statue na ito dahil ayaw nila sa kanya. Pero ngayon, balak na ibalik ulit ang dating hitsura ni Marcos na nagsisimbulo ng Marcos Highway, Gusto mo bang ibalik ito (LOOK | The past administration took down this statue because they didn’t like him. But now, there’s a plan to bring back the old face of Marcos that symbolizes the Marcos Highway, Do you want it back)?”
The fake post was first published on August 15, 2018 and resurfaced around the time the Commission on Elections proclaimed Marcos’ daughter, Imee, as one of the winning senators in the May 13 elections.
The 98-foot concrete carving of the late dictator’s face – built between 1978 to 1980 – was not destroyed during the Aquino administration but in December 2002, about eight years before Aquino took office.
Several news reports said it was blown up with dynamite on Dec. 29, 2002 by still-unidentified attackers. Police initially suspected treasure hunters as the culprits but a day later, rebel group New People’s Army’s Chadli Molintas Command issued a press release taking credit for the blast.
The fabricated post has been shared over 64,000 times and has received over 17,000 reactions and over 7,400 comments.
Duterte Supporters Worldwide was created in August 2017.
(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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