A Facebook page (FB) reposted a YouTube video falsely claiming that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered the country’s Navy and Coast Guard to surround Chinese ships at Recto Bank.
Marcos has made no such order, contrary to the video narrator’s claim quoting the chief executive as saying he would defend the Philippines’ sovereignty and rights through diplomatic and legal means, but would not hesitate to use force, if necessary, to protect the country’s interests.
Paraphrasing previous pronouncements by Marcos on the South China Sea territorial dispute, the narrator made an erroneous conclusion.
On July 11, FB page Historiador Filipino re-uploaded a July 10 video by YouTube channel Terong Explained which claimed:
“Sa kauna-unahang pagkakataon sa kasaysayan ng Pilipinas, inutusan ng Pangulong Bongbong Marcos ang Navy at Coast Guard na palibutan ang mga barko ng China sa Recto Bank.”
(For the first time in Philippine history, President Bongbong Marcos ordered the Navy and Coast Guard to surround Chinese ships at Recto Bank.)
Source: YouTube channel Terong Explained, WALANG KAWALA! PH Navy At PH Coast Guard PALILIBUTAN Ang NAGTITIPON Na Barko Ng China (timecode: 00:43 to 00:53), July 10, 2023.
Cursory search results show no such directive was issued by Marcos.
The erroneous video circulated days after the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Western Command reported on July 7 that 48 Chinese vessels were swarming around Iroquois Reef, based on an air patrol conducted on June 30.
Three China Coast Guard (CCG) ships and two People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels were also spotted at Sabina Shoal, located around 100 kilometers south of Recto Bank, the AFP said. Both areas are within the country’s exclusive economic zone.
On July 8, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Spokesperson to the West Philippine Sea Jay Tarriela said the coast guard and the AFP will monitor the Chinese ships and drive them away. He also said they would expose the Chinese military’s action to the international community so they would leave the areas, while intensifying their patrol of the disputed seas.
During his 2022 SONA, Marcos said that he would not preside over any process that would “abandon any square inch of territory of the Republic of the Philippines to any foreign power.”
Asked how he would defend Philippine sovereignty while maintaining relations with China, Marcos said in May that he would constantly consult partners and keep lines of communication open. He also proposed a hotline between him and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The video by Terong Explained (created on Oct. 6, 2015) got 107,640 interactions, while the video reuploaded by FB page Historiador Filipino (created on Sept. 19, 2022) garnered over 45,201 interactions.
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