A misleading video on Facebook (FB) claims President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos surprised Chinese President Xi Jinping by conducting joint military exercises with the United States (U.S.) “all of a sudden” and sending Chinese nationals back to their country.
On Oct. 4, an FB page published the deceptive video with the headline: “President BBM, Ginulat Ang Chinese President na si Xi Jinping (President Marcos shocked Chinese President Xi Jinping).”
With a narrator stating that Marcos issued a “sudden” order that “shocked” everyone, the video opens with a short clip taken from an Oct. 3 GMA News report on the Philippines’ joint military exercise with the U.S. that started that day, to be conducted in areas near the West Philippine Sea amid tensions with China.
The bilateral event did not come out of the blue.
Kamandag is an annual military-to-military exercise between the Philippines and the U.S. held under the Mutual Defense Treaty and Visiting Forces Agreement that started in 2017.
Further, the narrator also said Marcos issued an abrupt order to send Chinese nationals back to their country. It is inaccurate.
In an Oct. 2 press release, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said the agency is initiating the visa cancellation of 48,782 foreign nationals involved in Philippine offshore gaming operations shut down by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation. As a result, the aliens must leave the country within 59 days. BI is also set to deport 331 Chinese nationals arrested in operations conducted by authorities.
The misleading video appeared on the first day of the Kamandag exercises, which will run for two weeks until Oct. 14, with about 600 members of the Philippine Army and 2,550 U.S. Marines as participants.
FB page Uniteam Supporters (created on May 19) published the misleading video that garnered over 96,000 reactions, 8,900 comments, 9,700 shares, and 2.3 million views.
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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.)
