A YouTube channel concocted a fake story that the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) engaged in a water cannon fight with Chinese militia near Ayungin Shoal. This is not true. It also edited photos of previous maritime exercises to support its bogus claim.
Posted on Sept. 19, the eight-minute and five-second video bore the headline:
“PCG naubos ang pasensya! Agresibong Chinese militia binomba umano ng water cannon sa Ayungin (PCG lost its patience! Aggressive Chinese militia bombed with water cannons in Ayungin).”
The thumbnail featured at least three boats, one labeled “Philippine Coast Guard” and two bearing Chinese characters, firing water cannons against each other.
A narrator in the video stated that the PCG “reported” that they were not able to hold back and first fired water cannon against the Chinese militia that tried to block their ships during a resupply mission. This supposedly caused the Chinese to retaliate and also blasted the Filipino ship with a water cannon.
This is false. There are no official reports nor news stories about the PCG instigating a water cannon fight against China near Ayungin Shoal.
It twisted the Aug. 5 incident when the China Coast Guard (CCG) fired a water cannon against PCG vessels escorting the Armed Forces of the Philippines in a resupply mission to the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal.
The thumbnail photo flashed in the video is altered. Published by Agence France-Presse, the original image shows Chinese ships rescuing a mock cargo vessel on fire during a drill near Sansha in South China’s Hainan province on July 14, 2016.
Another altered photo shows the same scene from the Sansha Maritime Emergency Response Exercise at a different angle. The original photo was included in the U.S. Naval War College’s China Maritime Report published in March 2017.
The label “Philippine Coast Guard” on one of the ships was added in both images.
Note: Click on the photos to view their original source
To further mislead netizens, the video read a translated version of a Sept. 6 The Manila Times story on a military drill between the Philippines and Australia, and a Sept. 8 GMA News Online report on a resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal after the Aug. 5 incident.
The false video was uploaded two days after the PCG confirmed an Armed Forces of the Philippines report that there is severe damage to the marine environment and coral reef in Rozul Reef and Escoda Shoal, which are areas frequented by the Chinese maritime militia.
The video uploaded by YouTube channel PH TV (created on Nov. 2, 2015) has 42,755 views as of writing. VERA Files Fact Check has flagged this channel numerous times for spreading false information related to the West Philippine Sea dispute. (Read Video carries FALSE claim about F-35 flying near Chinese vessel in WPS)
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