According to some blogs, Japan has generously donated 1 trillion yen for the rehabilitation of Marawi City. Naturally, the said article has been widely shared on social media.
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While getting such a hefty donation to bring back Marawi City to the way it was before the conflict erupted between the Maute terror group and the government forces, this is actually a misleading report. Japan has pledged 1 trillion yen or roughly P433.7 billion to the Philippines but it was for financial aid and investments to the Philippines, not for Marawi’s rehabilitation, as per the claim of several online articles.
However, when we watched the video, we found that there was a partial video of a report from PTV news bearing the headline, “Japan, Nagbigay ng Ayuda sa Pilipinas Para sa Rehabilitasyon ng Marawi.” But the rest of the over 16-minute video was about a partial video of the joint press statement of President Rodrigo Duterte and Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Malacañang on January 12.
There are so many misleading points in the headline used for the article and the YouTube videos that are now claiming that Japan’s 1 trillion yen in aid and investments are intended to rehabilitate Marawi.
- We found a video of the PTV news on PTV’s official YouTube page bearing the headline that Japan has indeed given aid to the Philippines specifically for the Marawi rehabilitation.
If you might have noticed in the 39-second video above, it merely discussed the Department of Tourism’s confidence that Mindanao tourism will recover after the Marawi siege.
We found the same video posted on PTV’s official Facebook page and this time, it has the appropriate video title and caption.
PTV could have mistakenly placed the headline for their YouTube video but used the correct one for the video they uploaded on Facebook. Still, there are no clear reports from PTV either that Japan has indeed donated 1 trillion yen for Marawi City alone.
- We also found the relevant video showing the joint press statement of Duterte and Abe on January 12.
The video started off showing former Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay and the Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Kazuhide Ishikawasigning the documents containing the economic and social development program, which include 600 million yen for high-speed boats and other counter-terrorism equipment for the Philippine Coast Guard.
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In his statement, Abe thanked Duterte for receiving him in Malacañang, gave his reason as to why he chose the Philippines as his first destination for his foreign visits this year, expressed his support for ASEAN when it was PH’s chairmanship turn, and assured that PH and Japan will go hand in hand in ensuring the stability and prosperity of the region.
We found out more about the two leaders’ joint press statement from this Manila Bulletin article, where Abe was quoted saying, “For the further development of the Philippines, we will create business opportunities through ODA (official development assistance) and private sector investments which together will be of the order of 1 trillion yen over the next five years.”
He added that a committee from both Japan and the Philippines will be founded to promote economic cooperation and manage the infrastructure investments in the country. Abe said that Japan is prepared to give the technology and know-how to improve the infrastructure in Manila and the rest of the country.
Mindanao was also mentioned when Abe said that Japan will continue to support campaigns to maintain peace and development in Mindanao.
- Given how the videos used by the blogs to claim that Japan has provided 1 trillion yen for Marawi were taken in January, this meant the Marawi siege has not even happened yet! These blogs are deliberately misleading the people by claiming that Japan’s 1 trillion yen aid is intended for the city of Marawi and its residents.
Yet, these inconsistencies did not stop blogs like du30newsglobal.info, newsgov.info, newscopeph.info, and dutertebalita.net from publishing the misleading content.
It was also shared by Facebook pages such as “Pres. Rody Duterte Worldwide Supporters,” “Duterte Saviours Of Filipinos Today,” “Pinoy Republic,” “Duterte-Marcos Tandem,” “Duterte News Global,” and “Pres. Duterte Para sa Tunay na Pagbabago,” among others.
Japan is being very generous in pledging financial aid and bringing in investments to the Philippines, but the blogs and Facebook pages mentioned above are using it to mislead people. This is not the first time a wrong headline was used to deliberately spread the wrong information.
Sources: ( news.mb.com.ph , abante-tonite.com )
Be Informed. Beat the Trolls, Share the Truth!
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