HOAX: ‘Philippine warship’ photo in PTV report on kidnapped OFWs in Libya

Claim: The state-run People’s Television Network used a photograph of a supposed Filipino warship in a video report about the 3 kidnapped Filipino engineers in Libya.

The news program Ulat Bayan in a recent news segment used a photo of the warship with the headline “Pres. Duterte, magpapadala ng warship sa Libya oras na masaktan ang 3 Pinoy na bihag doon.” (President Duterte plans to send warships to Libya if the 3 kidnapped Filipinos get hurt)

The original video was taken down, along with the Facebook post in the People’s Television Network (PTV 4) page that featured the same video.

Rating: FALSE

The facts: (UPDATED) The photo used in the video report is fabricated.

The original photo comes from a Wikipedia article of the Type 054A frigate. They are Chinese utility vessels first entering service in 2007. The photograph is specifically the “Yueyang” ship.

Below is a comparison of the original and the fabricated photo and screenshots from the now taken-down Facebook post.

Facebook page “MaxDefense Philippines” called out PTV for the fabricated photograph on August 7.

Interaksyon and The Philippine Star published similar fact-check articles on August 7.

While the original video has been taken down, the same hoax photo is still being used in another related video report in PTV4’s Newsbreak on August 4. The video of this segment is still up as of this posting.

In an erratum posted on its Facebook page on late Tuesday afternoon, August 7, PTV, through its news program Ulat Bayan, apologized and explained that the photo was “downloaded from the Internet by an Ulat Bayan video editor.” 

The video editor has already been sanctioned, and other staff have been warned against repeating the error. “Moving forward, we shall take more diligent measures to deliver straightforward and accurate news to the Filipino people,” said PTV.

This claim was sent by a reader who wanted to verify the legitimacy of the photo. Rappler’s fact-checking service also relies on its readers who send dubious online posts for checking.

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