An article from a website called Australia Network News has been posted and shared by netizens online and have gained over 700 reactions when re-posted by a Facebook page supporting President Rodrigo Duterte. Its headline boldly claimed that the “Duterteffect,” as what supporters call any happening they attributed to be caused by Duterte, is setting a new Guinness record in terms of the number of voluntary surrenders of drug pushers and users.
Those who commented on the post said they like it and congratulated Duterte on this achievement. It seemed like they truly believe that the Philippines, under the new administration, has set a new Guinness World Record.
But if you click on the link to the article and read the content thoroughly, you might be confused not to read about any mention of a Guinness World Record when it was so proudly paraded in the headline.
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The content of the Australia Network News Article was simply about Duterte’s campaign on illegal drugs have attracted support from other militant groups, like the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the New People’s Army (NPA), as reported by major news sites. It also touched on the concern of human rights groups and civil rights campaigners about possible human rights abuses in the killings.
If you Google Duterte and Guinness World Record, what you’ll find though are news reports about Davao’s preparations for their attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the Simultaneous Singing of the National Anthem on May 7. Duterte’s supporters planned to pull it off at the Crocodile Park in Maa, Davao City. Buses were even used to bring people to the park for free, although the heavy traffic caused many attendees to walk to the venue on foot.
However, it turned out that only 125,000 people were able to reach the venue by 5pm to sing the Philippine national anthem. Officially, only 94,584 Davaoeños were able to take part in the attempt to beat Bangladesh’ Guinness record of 254,000 participants singing their national anthem on March 26, 2014.
One thing you won’t find throughout the article trying to connect the ‘Duterteffect’ with a new Guinness record is word about the world record itself. If the thousands of surrenders indeed made some sort of a record, it would have been a huge enough deal to be covered by major news sites all over the world. So far, there has been no official news about this record from the Guinness World Records officials themselves. Just like many articles shared online that Meme Buster has busted, this article is misleading!
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