FACT CHECK: Mati City not the only place with musical dancing fountain

The claim: Mati City Mayor Michelle Rabat, in a video interview being widely circulated on Facebook, says the newly-opened Musical Dancing Fountain in a government-run park in Mati City is “first-class, first-world which you could not find anywhere but only here” in Mati City.

“Makikita ‘nyo na ‘yung dancing fountain na habang sumasayaw ‘yung tubig may music, may ilaw. So that’s first-class, first-world, hindi makikita maski saan pero dito mayroon,” Rabat said. (You’ll see the dancing fountain where music and lights accompany the water as it dances. So that’s first-class, first-world which you could not find anywhere but only here.)

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: On February 4, 2023, in the runup to the musical dancing fountain’s opening, the city information office of Mati released its own video interview with Mayor Rabat wherein she claimed that Mati’s musical dancing fountain is the first of its kind which could not be found anywhere else. The Facebook account of a private citizen in Mati City who shared the widely circulated video interview of Rabat has 627 reactions, 185 shares, and 40 comments as of writing.

Other details: The musical dancing fountain which is Mati City’s newest tourist attraction is located in a government-run park by the bay which is being named after Mayor Rabat’s father, Francisco, a former governor of Davao Oriental and a former mayor of Mati City.

The government-funded P20-million dancing fountain is a project of Mayor Rabat. The new tourist attraction sits across the world-renowned and picturesque Pujada Bay, declared as among the world’s most beautiful bays.

Not the only one: A check with the Davao regional office of the Department of Tourism showed that the regional center, Davao City, already has two musical dancing fountains, one is located in the government-run People’s Park and the other one is located in the privately-run SM Lanang Premier.

The musical dancing fountain in the People’s Park was first opened to the public on December 2010 while the SM Lanang Premier’s musical dancing fountain was first opened to the public in September 2012. Mati City’s dancing fountain was officially opened on the evening of Easter Sunday, April 9.

Contrary to what Rabat said, the dancing fountains in People’s Park and SM Lanang Premier also feature lights and music that accompany the streams of water which dance in rhythm. The performance of the two fountains can be seen in the videos uploaded by Facebook user Marites Mandawe-Superales and YouTube user philcam, who recorded the dancing fountains of SM Lanang Premier and People’s Park respectively. – Rappler.com

Ferdinand Zuasola is an Aries Rufo Journalism Fellow.Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. You may also report dubious claims to #FactsFirstPH tipline by messaging Rappler on Facebook or Newsbreak via Twitter direct message. You may also report through our Viber fact check chatbot. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.