Neither the camp of former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos nor that of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio has announced that the two will run in tandem as president and vice president, respectively, in the 2022 elections, contrary to the claim of a YouTube video.
Published by the channel BANAT NEWS TV on June 9, the eight-minute video bore this headline: “JUST IN : PRES DUTERTE CONFIRMED! MAYOR SARA OPISYAL ng PINILI si MARCOS 2022 GOODBYE DILAW4N (Mayor Sara officially chooses Marcos 2022 goodbye yellows).”
This is false. Its content was based merely on comments made by the two politicians’ supporters on social media.
In its introduction, BANAT NEWS TV’s narrator said: “Tila kumpirmado nga na Marcos-Duterte na sa 2022 ang mangyayari para sa presidential elections sa susunod na halalan, ito ang ilan sa mga naging viral comment ng marami sa ating mga kababayan sa mundo ng social media (It seems the Marcos-Duterte tandem for 2022 is confirmed to happen in the next presidential elections, this is what some viral comments by many of our countrymen say on social media).”
The presidential daughter has over the past few months repeatedly insisted she will not run for president, but on June 16 she said she is now considering it.
Meanwhile, Marcos’ lawyer Victor Rodriguez confirmed that the former senator will run in the 2022 elections but did not disclose the position he would contest.
BANAT NEWS TV also based its speculation that Marcos will run for the nation’s highest position on President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement in January that the presidency is no job for a woman.
The false video appeared a week after Marcos and his sister Sen. Imee Marcos went to Davao City on May 30 to “personally greet” Duterte-Carpio ahead of her birthday the next day. Photos from the meeting fueled speculations of a tandem between the two families for the upcoming polls.
BANAT NEWS TV’s erroneous video has over 160,000 views. The channel was created on Dec. 26, 2015. A shorter version of the untrue video was also uploaded by the Facebook page Ogie Diaz Live the same day, which has gotten more than 388,000 views. The FB page was created in May 2020.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)