FALSE: Photos of Anakbayan, KMU rallying during quarantine

Claim: Photos show leftist groups Anakbayan and Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) holding a rally amid the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine.

The claim was made as early as March 22, but started resurfacing from April 4 to April 7 through several posts on Facebook. These posts used photos of a rally where the protesters used signs tagged with Anakbayan and KMU.

One post had the caption, “Naglabasan talaga! Ginamit pa ‘yung QPass [quarantine pass] niyo para makalabas at maggaganyan (You really went out! You even used your quarantine passes to go out and do that).”

Meanwhile, other posts said, “LOOK: Nagrally na naman ang mga Kanser ng Lipunan at Coronavirus ng Bayan. Imbes na sumunod sa ipinapatupad na Enhanced Community Quarantine (LOOK: The cancer of society and coronavirus of the nation held another rally. They could have just followed the ongoing enhanced community quarantine).”

These posts were flagged by Facebook Claim Check, a tool that detects posts with potentially false information.

Rating: FALSE

The facts: The photos were taken during a rally held on February 4, more than a month before Luzon was placed under enhanced community quarantine.

These photos were originally posted by the Anakbayan Facebook page on February 4. “Kasalukuyang nagsasagawa ng protesta ang iba’t ibang grupo sa harap ng Philippine General Hospital (PGH) para kondinahin ang kawalan ng malinaw na plano sa proteksyon ng mamamayan at matamlay na kilos ng gobyerno upang pigilan ang paglaganap ng Novel Coronavirus (nCov),” the caption read.

(Different groups are now holding a protest in front of the Philippine General Hospital to condemn the lack of a clear plan for the protection of the people and the slow action of the government to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.)

A day before this rally was conducted, President Rodrigo Duterte said “everything is well” in the Philippines. There were only two confirmed cases in the country at the time.

Duterte announced the Metro Manila lockdown on March 12. The entirety of Luzon was then placed under lockdown or enhanced community quarantine on March 16. (READ: TIMELINE: The novel coronavirus epidemic)

As of Tuesday, April 7, the Philippines has 3,764 coronavirus cases, with 177 deaths and 84 recoveries. – Loreben Tuquero/Rappler.com

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