Screengrab from ANI Twitter account
A fake video on former president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III was circulated on Facebook, the Agence-France Presse (AFP) fact-checker said on Thursday.
AFP said the video claimed that Aquino, wearing a yellow shirt, was about to fall off from an overturned boat.
The caption of the video said “Titanic 2018 version, starring his ex-president PINOY D abnoy! With Cabinet Members! (Titanic 2018 version! Starring his ex-president PINOY the abnormal! With Cabinet Members!).
But, AFP debunked the allegation, saying the man in the video was Surendra Furtado, mayor of Panaji, India.
Furtado also confirmed that he was the man in the clip. The video was also featured in an article at the official news website, DNA India.
“I had gone for an inspection of a newly-introduced weeding machine. The vessel lost its balance and we took a tumble. Nobody was injured,” Furtado told AFP.
Abigail Valte, Aquino’s spokesperson also denied the allegation that the former president was in the footage.
The post was shared 38,000 times by Facebook accounts with nearly 1,400,000 followers.