At a glance:

• Claim: A van of ABS-CBN tipped over while covering the situation of the dolomite in Manila Bay during Typhoon Ulysses.
• Rating: ALTERED PHOTO
• The facts: The photo used was taken back in 2010.
• Why we fact checked this: A reader emailed the claim for verification. Rappler also found at least 11 Facebook posts that contained this claim.

Complete details:

Several Facebook accounts, including that of former broadcaster Jay Sonza, claimed that a van of media network ABS-CBN tipped over while covering the situation of the dolomite in Manila Bay during Typhoon Ulysses.

These accounts posted an image from Thursday, November 12 to Friday, November 13 of what looked like a screenshot from a news report. The news ticker read, “ABS-CBN van, tumaob habang binabantayan ang dolomite sa kasagsagan ng bagyong Ulysses.” (ABS-CBN van tipped over while covering the dolomite at the height of Typhoon Ulysses.)

This is an altered photo. A reverse image search showed that the screenshot was from a news report back in June 2010, when a van of the media network tipped over in an expressway during an accident.

The screenshot might have come from a Facebook user that posted it at 10:03 am on Thursday, November 12. However, it was captioned: “NOTE: EDITED MEDIA SATIRE.” This was posted earlier than the others.

At least 11 Facebook users posted the screenshot and claimed the accident happened during Typhoon Ulysses. Some of them even wished that the van and the reporter were blown away.

A reader emailed a link to a post by Jay Sonza that contained this claim. Sonza falsely captioned his post, “Isa lamang ito sa mga iniwang bakas ng  Bagyong Ulysses (This is only one of the marks of Typhoon Ulysses). One must learn from experience.” As of writing, Sonza’s post had over 4,500 reactions, 362 shares, and 390 comments.

This is not the first time Rappler debunked a post by Sonza. In July 2019, a claim from his account said that drug overdose is the leading cause of death in Iceland. This was also false. – Pauline Macaraeg/Rappler.com

Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.