A clickbait YouTube video claims that former president Rodrigo Duterte condemned China over its heightened aggression in the West Philippine Sea (WPS). This is not true. Duterte has made no comments on the issue lately.
Uploaded on March 30, a week after China’s latest water cannon assault on Philippine resupply ships in the WPS, the video’s thumbnail text read:
“DU30 TINAPOS ANG CHINA. SAWAKAS! DUTERTE PINAGTANGGOL ANG PINAS
(Duterte ended China. Finally! Duterte defended the Philippines).”
Its headline said: “LAGOT KA NGAYON CHINA KA-TAPUSAN NYO na FPRRD PRES MARCOS UMAKSYON na WPS ISSUE SAWAKAS MATATAPOS NA (You’re in trouble now China! This is your end, FPRRD President Marcos acted on the WPS issue. Finally, it will end).”
Duterte did not denounce China after its coast guard blasted a water cannon at a Philippine supply vessel en route to Ayungin Shoal on March 23.
The erroneous video is a clickbait. No proof was shown to support its claim but merely featured an anonymous narrator discussing the recent visit of a United States congressional delegation to the country last March 26.
Duterte last called out China’s aggression in the WPS publicly in 2021 during the 30th ASEAN-China special summit.
The former chief executive pursued closer bilateral ties with China during his term. He also backtracked several times over the importance of the Philippines’ 2016 arbitral win in the South China Sea dispute, even calling it “just a [piece of] paper” at one point.
In his final State of the Nation Address in 2021, Duterte falsely claimed that the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling does not bind China (Read: Duterte is wrong; South China Sea arbitral award binds China, too)
The erroneous video emerged amid reports that Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping had a “gentleman’s agreement” not to repair the BRP Sierra Madre, a dilapidated Philippine Navy ship anchored in Ayungin Shoal.
Uploaded by YouTube channels MALACANYANG WATCH and WANGBUDISS TV, the video has drawn a total of 46,234 interactions.
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