VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Video FALSELY claims to show US, PH forces destroying Chinese vessel
The video circulated as the 39th iteration of Balikatan, the largest annual PH-US training exercise, kicked off on April 22.
The video circulated as the 39th iteration of Balikatan, the largest annual PH-US training exercise, kicked off on April 22.
The video with the wrong context was uploaded on FB more than a week after the China Coast Guard and Chinese Maritime Militia vessels again executed dangerous maneuvers and deployed water cannons against Philippine vessels.
VERA Files Fact Check, in response to a reader request to look into the viral clip, found that the paratrooping military exercise shown in the video took place at Fort Bragg in the United States almost six years ago.
The citation was actually for Sotto, who was among 12 state and civil society leaders around the world who were awarded by the U.S. State Department in February for their work “to defend transparency, combat corruption and ensure accountability in their own countries.”
The video did not even mention the United States but instead featured an unrelated clip from a July 26 interview with Philipine National Police (PNP) Chief Guillermo Eleazar on PTV.
If the 10-member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were to choose between US and China, it’s a 7-3 win by China, according to “The State of Southeast Asia: 2020 Survey Report” published by the ASEAN Studies Centre at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.