Another video falsely claiming that former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio are teaming up to run for the country’s top two posts in next year’s elections is again being shared on social media. It was posted by the same YouTube channel behind a similar falsehood last month.
There has been no announcement from either camp of a Bongbong-Sara tandem in the 2022 polls.
The spurious video was published on July 8 by YouTube channel BANAT NEWS TV with the headline “JUST IN : FINALLY!CONFIRMED!MALACAÑANG MARCOS DUTERTE TANDEM OPISYAL ng PINILI sa 2022! DILAW4N IYAK (Finally! Confirmed! Malacañang officially chooses the Marcos-Duterte tandem for 2022! Yellows cry).”
Nothing in the video, which ran for almost 10 minutes, supported the claim. It only spliced together the following clips lifted from various sources:
- a July 7 Bombo Radyo report about President Rodrigo Duterte’s warning against individuals engaged in the illegal sale of COVID-19 vaccines;
- an untraceable radio report about the frequent meetings between the Marcoses and Duterte-Carpio; and
- clips from the July 7 meeting between President Duterte and the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), where Duterte said he is “sold to the idea” of running for vice president after members of the party repeatedly urged him to run for the post.
While the second clip did mention the possibility of a Bongbong-Sara partnership, it did not make any confirmation about the two politicians running as a tandem. It only referenced a June 15 pronouncement of the presidential daughter saying she has until July to decide whether or not she’ll pursue the presidency next year.
In the same interview with ABS-CBN reporter RG Cruz, the Davao City mayor confirmed she’s carefully thinking about running. As for rumors about who her running mate will be, she said she’ll decide first about her own candidacy before she names her vice president. Her openness to seeking the presidency is a turnaround of her position just months ago when she rejected calls for her to run.
Marcos, on the other hand, has declared his intention to run in the 2022 national elections as early as January 2020 without specifying which position. This was reiterated in February this year by his camp’s spokesperson, Victor Rodriguez, and was again confirmed by his sister, Sen. Imee Marcos, just last July 9.
BANAT NEWS TV published its erroneous video a day after the People’s Reform Party (PRP) officially declared its support for Duterte-Carpio’s possible presidential candidacy next year. PRP is the political party of the late Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
Buzz about the Marcos-Duterte tandem has been going around after a photo of a meeting between the two camps was shared on social media in late May. Both the Marcoses and Duterte-Carpio confirmed they have been discussing politics.
BANAT NEWS TV’s video has been viewed over 202,000 times. Three pages — Pacquiao Top News, Durtete Top News Today, and Pacquiao News Updates — crossposted the video on Facebook (FB) and collectively got over 1.3 million views, 25,400 reactions, 6,800 comments, and 2,700 shares from netizens.
Crossposting a video on FB means publishing a single video across different pages with a “crossposting relationship.” A person needs to have an admin or editor role in all pages to be able to crosspost a video in them.
Notably, Pacquiao Top News and Pacquiao News Updates were both made just last July 6, while Durtete Top News Today was created the following day.
VERA Files Fact Check flagged BANAT NEWS TV in early June for peddling the same falsehood regarding the nonexistent Bongbong-Sara tandem. (See VERA FILES FACT CHECK: NO announcement of a Bongbong-Sara tandem in 2022 polls)
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)