Not drugs, just lapel pin: Palace debunks viral video

Screenshot from RTVM/Live

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Saturday debunked a viral video clip showing President Marcos being handed a sachet containing a white substance suspected to be illegal drugs, urging Filipinos to be more discerning about what they are being fed on social media.

The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) released a video which showed that what the plastic sachet contained was a dominantly white lapel pin bearing the logo of Marcos’ political party, the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas.

The video showed a man holding a small white object in his palm approaching the President to hand it to him as they shook hands before posing for a selfie.

READ: DOJ, PNP to probe ‘fake,’ ‘malicious’ Marcos video

‘Be Critical’

The Facebook page “Maging Mapanuri” (Be Critical), the PCO’s fact-check page, said the object was blurred to mislead the public.

“It was a simple act that was interpreted differently because of incomplete details … Releasing information without the proper context is an effective way to mislead the public,” a female narrator of the PCO’s video said in Filipino. “No one will be fooled if no one will allow themselves to be fooled.”

The narrator said a portion of the viral video was blurred, particularly the object handed to the President, to make netizens think it was a sachet containing a white substance.

A close-up view of the object revealed that it was a Partido Federal logo on a lapel pin.

Marcos look-alike

The viral video showing the white object made the rounds of various social media platforms on Friday and many netizens speculated that it was a sachet of illegal drugs.

Although the PCO did not state the specific public event attended by the President, it appeared to be the announcement of the administration’s senatorial slate at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City on Wednesday.

The PCO’s fact check video came more than a week after the Vera Files news group reported that there were traces of manipulation of a video that showed a look-alike of Marcos sniffing illegal drugs.

PCO Secretary Cesar Chavez said the Palace’s main communications arm would be more proactive in fighting fake news and disinformation by doing fact checks and assigning fact-check officers to its attached agencies.

Duterte-fanned allegations

Allegations of illegal drug use has hounded Marcos even before the 2022 elections after then President Rodrigo Duterte said a presidential aspirant was into cocaine.

In November 2021, Marcos submitted himself to a drug test at St. Luke’s Medical Center which said that he tested negative for cocaine.

In January this year, Duterte said his successor anew of being a “stoned” drug user.

The President just laughed it off, attributing Duterte’s remarks to the effects of his long use of the opioid fentanyl, which the ex-president admitted taking to relieve pain from a motorcycle accident when he was Davao City mayor.

“It is highly addictive and it has very serious side effects and PRRD has been taking the drug for a very long time now,”  Marcos said.