FALSE: Duterte speaks up about Pacquiao’s 2022 plans

At a glance:

• Claim: A video uploaded in March 2021 said President Rodrigo Duterte finally spoke up about the rumored plans of Senator Manny Pacquiao to run for president in the 2022 elections.
• Rating: FALSE
• The facts: The clips used in the video were old and were stitched together to frame it as if they’re related to each other and that the events happened recently. The clips used were not related to each other, however – one from Duterte’s speech in 2017, and another from Pacquiao’s interview about the ABS-CBN franchise in February 2020.
• Why we fact-checked this: The video containing this claim has over 8.1 million views, 227,000 reactions, 18,400 comments, and 27,300 shares on Facebook, as of writing.

Complete details:

Facebook page “Duterte News Info TH” live streamed a video on March 14 that falsely claimed President Rodrigo Duterte had finally spoken up about Senator Manny Pacquiao’s rumored plans to run for president in the 2022 elections.

The video’s title and caption were: “NAKAKAGULAT NA BALITA ! PRES DUTERTE NAGSALITA NA KAY PACQUIAO ABS CBN PRESIDENT 2022 (Shocking news! President Duterte finally spoke up about Pacquiao, ABS-CBN, president 2022)”

The sentence “Eto lang masasabi ni Duterte kay Pacquiao (This is what Duterte has to say to Pacquiao)” was also visible at the bottom of the screen.

Many of the comments on the video were against Pacquiao because he opposed ABS-CBN’s closure. 

This is false.

The clips used in the video were old and were stitched together to frame it as if they’re related to each other and that the events happened recently. But it used clips that were not related to each other – one from Duterte’s speech in 2017, and another clip from Pacquiao’s interview about the ABS-CBN franchise in February 2020.

The first part of the video was of Duterte’s speech during the 39th birthday celebration of Pacquiao in December 2017 at the KCC Convention and Events Center in General Santos City. Duterte talked about a number of things, including his plans to counter corruption in the country, his disdain for public bidding for projects, and how he had “built” Davao City when he was mayor. There was no mention of ABS-CBN in the clips of Duterte used in the video.

The false video then stitched together a clip of Pacquiao, which was from an interview about the ABS-CBN franchise in February 2020, wherein he said that supporting ABS-CBN didn’t necessarily mean he was going against Duterte.

“I love the President. I always support the President. Hindi ko kinakalaban at suportado ko lahat ng advocacy niya. Itong renewal ng franchise ng ABS-CBN, ang worry ko lang is maraming libong tao ang maapektuhan. Kumbaga i-times mo ’yon, maraming pamilya rin ang maaapektuhan doon,” Pacquiao said.

(I don’t oppose him. I support all his advocacies. My only worry about ABS-CBN’s franchise renewal [if it’s not renewed] is that thousands of people will be affected. If you multiply that, many families will also be affected.)

The video then switched back to Duterte’s speech in 2017, where he said he wanted Pacquiao to be president. “I am dedicating this message to Manny. You know why? Sabi ko sa kanya, one time, kaming dalawa lang nag-uusap, ‘yung style mo na ganyan, gusto kitang gawaing presidente. Alam mo, kaya mo,” Duterte said.

(I told him one time when it was just the two of us talking that his style makes me want to make him president. I told him, you know, you can.)

But Duterte made this statement over 3 years ago, and it had been reported by the Philippine media.

A review of Duterte’s speeches in March 2020 showed that Duterte had not mentioned Pacquiao in any of his recent public talks. There were also no reports published in 2021 that could support the false video’s claim.

Rumors of Pacquiao running for the president have been around since 2013, but the senator has not made an official announcement as of March 2021.

The false video has over 8.1 million views, 227,000 reactions, 18,400 comments, and 27,300 shares, as of writing. Claim Check, Facebook’s monitoring tool that identifies potentially dubious posts, flagged the video for fact-checking. – Pauline Macaraeg/Rappler.com

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