At a glance:

• Claim: Multiple Facebook posts about the Metro Manila Subway project showed a photo of a construction site of a subway tunnel.
• Rating: FALSE
• The facts: The photo used in the posts was taken in Moscow, Russia.
• Why we fact-checked this: A reader emailed the claim to Rappler for verification. Posts containing the claim had thousands of engagements on Facebook combined as of writing.

Complete details:

Multiple Facebook accounts and pages used a photo of what looked like a construction site of a subway tunnel for posts about the Metro Manila Subway project. The posts were shared as early as Tuesday, January 26.

The photo used is false. It was not taken in the Philippines.

A reverse image search showed that the photo used in the posts was of a subway tunnel construction in Moscow, Russia.

Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) announced in September 2020 that 6 tunnel boring machines were expected to arrive in the Philippines from Japan in the first quarter of 2021. These machines will be used to excavate tunnels for the project.

The construction of the Metro Manila Subway officially started in February 2019 and entered its clearing phase in December of the same year.

The P357-billion project under the Duterte government’s Build Build Build program will have 17 stations and is expected to serve around 370,000 passengers per day in its opening year. The DOTr said that the subway is targeted to be partially operable by 2022, before the end of Duterte’s term.

A reader emailed Rappler a link to the claim for verification. As of writing, the post had over 1,100 shares, 1,800 reactions, and 39 comments. Rappler also spotted at least 6 separate posts that contained the same false photo. – 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.