No, seven Philippine cities will not sink and “become part of the ocean” in a few decades.
A fake story by website dailyartikulo.info published Jan. 8 is currently making the rounds on social media once again, duping readers with doctored photos and a fabricated claim about the effects of climate change on the country.
Bearing the headline, “List Of Areas In PH That Will Disappear, Becomes Part Of The Ocean After Few Years,” the story claims that rising sea levels would submerge the cities of Manila, Malabon, Caloocan, Taguig, Iloilo, Butuan, and Davao by 2085, citing as one of its sources an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report.
The ADB, which published a climate change report in January 2017, made no such claim.
The seven cities were cited as among the 25 cities in Asia and the Pacific “most exposed to a one-meter sea level rise,” according to the ADB report titled, “A Region at Risk: The Human Dimensions of Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific.”
The year 2085 was also not referred to as the year in which the seven cities would “sink.” Speaking about possible damages to the economy brought about by typhoons, the ADB report said:
“In 2085… the Philippines could suffer from a 17%–58% increase of direct damage to housing if adaptive measures are not taken.”
The fake story carried by dailyartikulo.info features as its thumbnail a photo of a city about to be hit by a large tsunami, spliced together with an aerial image of another city.
The tsunami photo dates back to 2012 and is actually a photoshopped image of Honolulu, Hawaii by photographer Sean Davey. The aerial photo, on the other hand, is mapping website mapio.net‘s undated photo of Metro Manila taken from an airplane.
Facebook detected the fake news circulating on its platform the same week news about Boracay’s re-opening in October was published. The Duterte administration closed off the tourist destination in April for rehabilitation and clean-up.
Social media traffic to the story largely came from the pages Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos, SNP – Social News Philippines and President Rodrigo Duterte Supporters Around The World, and could have reached over 1.5 million people.
Dailyartikulo.info was created in October 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.)
