A viral video on Facebook (FB) is making a bogus claim that the University of the Philippines (UP) is being shut down.
On June 2, an FB page uploaded a nine-minute-long video, the text of which partly read: “UP sarado nah (sic). Kumpirmado na (UP is closed. It’s confirmed).”
The claim is not supported by the clip which only played an excerpt of a radio interview of a retired political science professor from the university discussing an issue involving her former department.
The country’s national university is not closing down. No such announcement has been made by the university or any other public office or official.
In May, a similar claim circulated online saying UP will be turned into a shopping mall. It was debunked by Rappler and Agence France-Presse.
In an emailed statement to VERA Files Fact Check on June 7, UP Vice President for Public Affairs Dr. Elena Pernia said there are no plans to convert the university into any commercial establishment.
“[T]his idea runs counter to UP’s legal mandate as delineated in RA 9500,” Pernia said. Republic Act 9500, or the UP Charter of 2008, enacts UP’s institutional functions as a national university.
A day before the erroneous video surfaced, students held a protest in UP Diliman urging the incoming 19th Congress to pass the bills to institutionalize the UP-Department of National Defense accord. The agreement recognizes academic freedom and will guarantee protection against possible abuses from military, police and other state actors by prohibiting their entry into the university without prior notification.
The untrue video was published by FB page RpM 2heart Gaming (created on Aug. 23, 2020) and has garnered more than 30,000 reactions, 3,200 comments, 3,400 shares and 1.2 million views. The original video was uploaded by TikTok user mr.glimmeld on June 2 and received more than 1 million views and 48,500 interactions.
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(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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