A YouTube video erroneously implied that former President Rodrigo Duterte has cancelled his certificate of candidacy (COC) for Davao City mayor to instead run for senator.
The misleading video was published on Oct. 8 and bore the following headline, which notably used zeroes to replace the letter “o”, ostensibly to avoid keyword detection:
“BREAKING NEWS! NagkaguL0 na ang mga Media sa Malaking Pasab0g ni FPRRD at Marcoleta Nilabas Sawakas (The media is in a disarray after this huge explosive revelation of Duterte and [Rep. Rodante] Marcoleta. At last)!”
Its thumbnail bore the text: “NAG-WITHDRAW NA? GINIMBAL ANG TAONG BAYAN! TATAKBONG SENADOR (He already withdrew? The public is shocked! He will run as senator)?”
The Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod Party, a Davao-based party that was founded by Duterte, said in an Oct. 8 statement that Duterte is still running for Davao City mayor. “[Duterte] remains committed to returning to local governance and serving the people of Davao,” it said.
In two separate Oct. 8 media interviews, former Marcos executive secretary Vic Rodriguez and former presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo also debunked the circulating rumors and said Duterte is still running for a local position.
The video’s headline and thumbnail are clickbait. The narrator of the 22-minute video said in the content that rumors of Duterte gunning for the Senate is not confirmed.
Still, people under the misleading clip’s comment section were misled into believing that Duterte indeed canceled his COC for the Davao City mayoralty.
The erroneous claims about Duterte’s senatorial bid further spread after a certain DZRH report, which has since been taken down, mistakenly claimed that the former president is running as senator.
YouTube channel PINAS NEWS INSIDER (created on Dec. 26, 2015) published the misleading video, garnering over 205,000 views and 10,000 online interactions.
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