Claim: Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg called President Ferdinand Marcos a weak president. 

The video containing the claim showed a video message from Greta Thunberg shown during Singkwenta: Mga Kanta at Kwento tungkol sa Martial Law event held on September 21, 2022, at the University of the Philippines Diliman.

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The YouTube post containing the claim has over 1,400 likes and 43,474 views as of writing.

Not said: Thunberg and her fellow environmental activists Alde Nilsson and Mitzi Jonelle Tan did not call Marcos weak anywhere in the video message they gave for the Singkwenta: Mga Kanta at Kwento tungkol sa Martial Law event. 

The complete message: The whole video message of the environmental activists can be seen from timestamps 2:23:32 to 2:24:08 of the complete video of the event posted by Akademiya at Bayan Kontra Disimpormasyon at Dayaan – ABKD on September 21, 2022. 

Their message was as follows:

Nilsson: “The fight for climate justice is to fight for democracy and freedom. We cannot achieve climate justice under fascist leaders.”

Thunberg: “There can be no climate justice under Marcos.”

Tan: “Nothing has changed with Marcos the dictator from 50 years ago and Marcos Jr. now.”

Nilsson: “We stand in solidarity with environmental defenders in the Philippines.”

Thunberg: “We stand in solidarity with the Martial Law Victims seeking justice and the human rights defenders pursuing the democratic rights of people and climate justice.”

Tan: “Ituloy ang laban.”

Thunberg’s video message was also reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, ABS-CBN, and ANC 24/7. The reports did not mention anything about Thunberg calling Marcos weak.

Marcos highlights climate change: During his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on September 21, 2022, Marcos cited climate change as one of the four challenges that the global community faces.

Marcos called on other UN members to immediately fulfill their obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement. – Lorenz Pasion/Rappler.com

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