A YouTube video claimed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was rushed to the hospital last week and was kept in a safe house because of his grave condition. The video is merely clickbait and showed no proof to substantiate its claims.
Uploaded on Sept. 3, the video’s headline read:
“JUNIOR NAKARMA nasa MALUBHANG KALAGAYAN SINUGOD sa EMERGENCY ROOM/NASA REST HOUSE na TINATAGO (Junior was struck by karma, in a grave condition rushed to the emergency room/hidden in a rest house)??
Its thumbnail also bore the text: “JUNIOR DI MUNA MAKIKITA SA PUBLIKO MATAPOS ISUGOD SA ER. TINATAGO MUNA UNDISCLOSED SAFEHOUSE. (Junior will not be seen in public for the meantime after being rushed to the ER. Being kept in an undisclosed safehouse).”
This is not true. Marcos appeared in a media interview on Sept. 4, where denied that he was gravely ill and was hospitalized in the past days:
“It’s totally and completely fake. I do not even have a cold, I do not have anything wrong with me. I’m fine.”
RTVMalacañang YouTube channel, “Media Interview at the NDRRMC Headquarters 09/04/2024,” Sept. 4, 2024 (from 1:31 to 1:39)
Marcos said he was in the Palace on Sept. 3 where he attended meetings and did paperwork.
A day earlier, clips from Radio Television Malacañang showed that Marcos attended the 56th founding anniversary of the Presidential Airlift Wing in Villamor Airbase, as well as the 28th year commemoration of the government’s final peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front.
Rumors that the president was hospitalized spread on social media early last week but continues to gain traction. Among those who made the claim was former broadcaster Jay Sonza, who posted on Facebook that there was a medical emergency in San Miguel, Manila where Malacañang is located.
Marcos laughed off the rumors about his supposed medical emergency and said he was surprised upon hearing it.
The clickbait video showed Sonza’s baseless post along with commentaries from a vlogger who criticized the supposed failure of the Marcos administration’s flood control projects amid the heavy rains brought by severe Tropical Storm Enteng and the southwest monsoon.
Uploaded by verified YouTube channel SHOWBIZ CHIKA-DORO (created May 21, 2019), the erroneous video garnered over 109,105 interactions. FB users also reposted the link.
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