Filipino authorities have debunked viral social media videos claiming to show massive crowds at an October 12 anti-Marcos administration rally, revealing the footage actually depicts a separate protest held weeks earlier.<\/p>\n
Multiple videos that purportedly show large crowds gathering for an October 12 protest against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at Forbes Park Village in Makati City have been widely shared across social media platforms. One such video garnered over 3.5 million views, 67,000 reactions, and 11,000 shares, with text overlay stating: “The people are starting to gather for the rally today, October 12, 2025.”<\/p>\n
Fact-checkers have confirmed these videos are misrepresented. A reverse image search revealed the footage originated from TikTok posts dated September 22, connected to an earlier protest known as the “Trillion Peso March.” This separate demonstration, held on September 21, drew thousands of Filipinos protesting alleged corruption in government flood control projects.<\/p>\n
The investigation also identified footage of a broadcast journalist supposedly covering the October 12 event as actually being GMA News reporter Luisito Antonio Santos’ coverage of the September 21 protest. Geographic inconsistencies further exposed the deception, as the viral videos showed prominent streets and locations from the Trillion Peso March rather than Forbes Park in Makati City, where the October 12 rally actually took place.<\/p>\n
The October 12 demonstration was considerably smaller than the viral videos suggested. Organized by Cavite 4th District Representative Francisco “Kiko” Barzaga, the event attracted approximately 300 participants despite the presence of more than 600 police officers deployed to maintain order. The six-hour protest concluded with a prayer vigil attended by Barzaga himself.<\/p>\n
Barzaga had called for the “anti-corruption” rally to demand President Marcos Jr.’s resignation. On social media, the lawmaker urged protesters to “enter the homes” of former Ako Bicol Representative Zaldy Co and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, accusing the administration of mishandling billions in flood control project funds and shielding Romualdez, the President’s cousin, from allegations linking him to the scandal.<\/p>\n
The relatively modest turnout for the October 12 event stands in stark contrast to the massive Trillion Peso March held three weeks earlier. That September 21 demonstration saw thousands of citizens flooding streets across multiple Philippine cities to protest alleged corruption and irregularities in government flood control initiatives.<\/p>\n
This incident highlights the ongoing political tensions in the Philippines surrounding corruption allegations and the Marcos administration’s handling of infrastructure projects. It also underscores the challenge of misinformation in the digital age, where footage from one event can be easily repurposed and presented as evidence of another, potentially misleading the public about the scale and significance of political demonstrations.<\/p>\n
Filipino authorities continue to encourage citizens to report suspicious social media content, emphasizing the importance of verifying information before sharing it online, particularly regarding politically sensitive events that can influence public perception and discourse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Filipino authorities have debunked viral social media videos claiming to show massive crowds at an October 12 anti-Marcos administration rally, revealing the footage actually depicts a separate protest held weeks earlier. Multiple videos that purportedly show large crowds gathering for an October 12 protest against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at Forbes Park Village in Makati<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5495","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fact-check"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/dis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/dis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/dis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/dis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/dis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5495"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/dis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5497,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/dis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5495\/revisions\/5497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/dis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/dis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/dis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/dis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}