A video clip of jeepney drivers protesting the jeepney modernization program last year has been misrepresented as a rally backing Vice President Sara Duterte.
As Duterte's feud with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. escalates, TikTok user @zigspotsolo uploaded on Nov. 23 a video of hundreds of individuals supposedly rallying in solidarity with Duterte on EDSA.
It was responding to a commenter who said, “People power na, wag niyo nang hintayin ang martial ng Marcos (People power now. Let’s not wait for Marcos to declare martial law).”
The video uploader added the following caption in the video:
Punta ka ng EDSA (Go to EDSA).
However, Google reverse image search and street view reveals the video was filmed at España Boulevard and San Diego street on Dec. 29 last year, the same day drivers’ unions staged a demonstration against the phaseout of public utility jeepneys. The original video was taken by SINAG, a campus publication in the University of the Philippines Diliman, and posted on its X (formerly Twitter) account.
Pro-Duterte supporters only began to occupy a driveway beside the historic EDSA shrine on Nov. 26, three days after the video was posted. Footage from ABS-CBN, GMA and ANC confirm that individuals supporting the vice president differ from those in the TikTok video. For instance, most pro-Duterte protesters wore green and white shirts while jeepney drivers in last year’s rally wore sky blue shirts.
The calls from pro-Duterte influencers to protest at EDSA came following the vice president’s late press briefing on Nov. 22 where she condemned House’s decision to transfer her chief of staff, Zuleika Lopez, from the House complex to the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City.
Duterte said in the press conference she had hired a hitman to assassinate Marcos, First Lady Liza Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez in the event of her death. The president has since condemned the vice president’s remarks, vowing not to overlook any threats to his life or his family.
The video has 15,000 likes, 3,410 comments and 972 shares. Its uploader, @zigspotsolo, has 219,000 followers on TikTok. (CC)