FACT CHECK: Video misrepresents a 2017 City of Pearl site as part of Marcos Jr. ‘mega projects’
Claim: A video shows President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s “mega projects.”
A Facebook video contains a caption in Filipino that reads in English as: “Are you ready? This is huge. PBBM MEGA PROJECTS.” It also contains additional text that promises a brighter future ahead, with the label: “The Philippine future under [M]arcos administration.”
Rating: FALSE
Why we fact-checked this: The video containing the claim has 99,943 views, 791 shares, and 4,800 reactions as of writing.
The facts: The video featured in the post shows an illustration of the New Manila Bay-City of Pearl reclamation project that was first proposed more than five years ago, during former president Rodrigo Duterte’s administration in 2017.
It aims to host more than 500,000 residents, and create over 100,000 jobs. A product of the Belt and Road Initiative of China and the Philippines, it also aims to build “an international community with commercial, residential, convention, healthcare, tourism, education, and sports hub” facilities.
Misrepresented: The video posted was trimmed with background music added and the narration of the planner/architect company contracted to do the project already removed. In the original video, Ho and Partners Architects (HPA) presented the project’s illustrated design.
The developer: City of Pearl is a project of UAA Kinming Group Development Corp.,
and is expected to “welcome its first residents in 2030.” Gohan Strategy, a brand consultancy company, is one of UAA Kinming Group’s partners, along with HPA. – Ailla Dela Cruz/Rappler.com
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