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FACT CHECK | FB posts on presence of China’s People’s Liberation Army in BARMM unproven

20240105 103552 00007333846952924785116

Two Facebook posts claiming that members of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) manned the Chinese vessel that conducted dredging activities in the Bangsamoro region are unfounded. They altered the content of the source news items apparently to mislead readers.

Facebook pages Pilipinas Today and Pilipinas, which claim to be digital news media platforms, reported that the PLA crewed the Chinese vessel that dredged off the seas of Maguindanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur provinces last month.

The PLA is the military wing of the Communist Party of China, the ruling party of the People’s Republic of China.

The Philippines has no defense pact with China that is similar to the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States. The VFA contains guidelines and conditions for the presence of US and Filipino troops in each other’s country.

In 2014, during the Aquino III administration, the Philippines and the US signed the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement or EDCA, expanding the security relationship between the Philippines and the United States under their long-standing mutual defense treaty. It was almost completely shelved during the time of Aquino’s pro-China successor, Rodrigo Duterte. But Ferdinand Marcos Jr. revived it two years after becoming President.

“Dahil may tensiyon sa West Philippine Sea, nangangamba na rin ang ilang mamamayan ngayong nakakita sila ng Chinese vessel na nasa baybayin ng dalawang lalawigan na minamando ng mga tauhan ng People’s Liberation Army (PLA),” Pilipinas Today and Pilipinas reported.

[Translation: Because there is tension at the West Philippine Sea, some residents are worried upon seeing a Chinese vessel off the coast of the two provinces manned by members of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).]

The same story was translated into Cebuano language and circulated by Facebook pages Filipinas Today Bisaya, Pilipinas Today Visayas, and Filipinas Today AM.

Cotabato City-based KutangBato News first reported on the story last December 12. It posted an audio interview with Minister Akmad Brahim of the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Energy in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Nowhere in the interview did Brahim mention the presence of PLA members aboard the Chinese vessel.

DXMS Radyo Bida Cotabato City, the official Facebook page of the Oblate of Mary Immaculate (OMI)-owned DXMS AM radio station, also picked up the same story. It also did not report that PLA members were manning the Chinese vessel.

Pilipinas Today and Pilipinas are managed by Sartine IT Solutions, based on their respective Page transparency. The first has 1.5 million followers while the latter has 752,000 followers. Sartine IT Solutions also manages Filipinas Today Bisaya, Pilipinas Today Visayas and Filipinas Today AM, each with hundreds of thousands of followers.

All of them shared the same stories about the PLA-manned Chinese vessel dredging in the seas of Maguindanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur on December 13, a day after KutangBato News broke it and several hours after DXMS Radyo Bida reported it on Facebook.

The Pilipinas Today and Pilipinas articles – both titled “Barko ng China nagsasagawa ng dredging sa Maguindanao – report” (Chinese vessel conducting drilling in Maguindanao – report) – as well as the Cebuano versions were obviously based from the story of DXMS Radyo Bida Cotabato City, except for the former’s unfounded claim that PLA members were manning the Chinese vessel.

They particularly altered the bottom portion of the DXMS Radyo Bida story, which reads: “Dahil may tension sa West Philippine Sea, may pangamba na rin ang ilang mamamayan ngayong nakakita sila ng Chinese vessel na nasa baybayin ng dalawang lalawigan.” (Because there is tension at the West Philippine Sea, some residents are worried upon seeing a Chinese vessel off the coast of the two provinces.)

A media triangulation using Google search yielded nothing about the presence of PLA members aboard a Chinese vessel conducting dredging activities in Maguindanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur last month.

The search yielded a news item by the OMI-owned Notre Dame Broadcasting Corp. (NDBC), which operates DXMS Radyo Bida. NDBC also reported about the Chinese vessel’s dredging activity in the two provinces.

But just like the Facebook page DXMS Radyo Bida Cotabato City, the NDBC News website did not report that PLA members were aboard the Chinese vessel.

As with all our other reports, MindaNews welcomes leads or suggestions from the public to potential fact-check stories. 

MindaNews is a verified signatory to the Code of Principles of the International Fact-Checking Network. (Bong S. Sarmiento with a report from H. Marcos. C. Mordeno / MindaNews)

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MindaNews is the news service arm of the Mindanao Institute of Journalism. It is composed of independent, professional journalists who believe and practice people empowerment through media.

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About MindaNews Fact Check

MindaNews Fact Check seeks to fight misinformation and disinformation circulating on the internet, news platforms and communities that we serve.
 
What is MindaNews Fact Check?
MindaNews Fact Check tracks and debunks fake news, false claims and misleading statements of government officials, civil society leaders and netizens being spread on the internet, especially on social media sites. MindaNews values truth and accuracy in performing our journalistic work.
Why we fact-check?
Politicians, government officials and other public and private figures at times tend to bend facts to suit or advance their vested interests, or their principals, in effect misleading the public. The distorted facts spread easily with the popularity of the internet and the wide influence of social media.
 
As independent journalists, our primordial duty is to tell the truth and present facts to help the public discern issues and concerns impacting their lives.
How do we rate claims?

FAKE – if the claim is completely invented.

FALSE – if the claim contradicts, undermines or disputes truthful facts, actual events and official records (i.e. laws and scientific studies)

MISLEADING – if the claim is based on truth but maliciously twisted that gives a different impression to serve a group or individual’s vested interests.

ALTERED – pertains to images or videos that were manipulated to mislead the public.

MISSING CONTEXT – if the claim needs more clarification or contextualization to make it clearer.
 
Where do you post your results?
We post our fact-checked stories in mindanews.com, on Facebook and Twitter with links to the original piece. We have a dedicated fact check page, where all fact-checked stories can be found.
How did MindaNews Fact Check start?

Since its establishment in 2001, MindaNews has been living up to its vision of being the “leading provider of accurate, timely and comprehensive news and information on Mindanao and its peoples, serving economically, politically and culturally empowered communities” and its mission to “professionally and responsibly cover Mindanao events, peoples and issues to inform, educate, inspire and influence communities.”

MindaNews was founded by reporters precisely to ensure that reports about Mindanao, an island grouping that has suffered misinformation and disinformation long before these words became fashionable, are accurate.
 
Our policy has always been to ensure that reports are thoroughly vetted before they are dispatched and uploaded on our website.
 
Our fact-checking initiative with a uniform format started in October 2021 as part of Internews’ pioneering Philippine Fact-Checker Incubator (PFCI) project. Internews is an international non-profit that supports independent media from 100 countries.
 
Prior to the PFCI project, MindaNews co-founded Tsek.ph, a collaboration among Philippine media institutions to fight disinformation and misinformation during the 2019. Tsek.ph did the same thing for the 2022 elections.
 
Where do you get funds?
MindaNews has sustained its operation through proceeds from subscriptions of its news service (news, special reports, opinion pieces, photos) and sales of books. It also receives grants from non-state actors. Editorial prerogative, however, is left entirely to MindaNews.
 
MindaNews does not accept funds from politicians or domestic or foreign states for its fact-checking initiative. For the other operations of MindaNews as a media organization, we have received grants from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The grants from NED and UNESCO have been used for coverage, staff compensation, administrative expenses, and to train fellow journalists.
 
For MindaNews’ fact-checking initiatives, it received support from Internews (September 2021 to October 2022) and the BUILD grant administered by the International Fact-Checking Network (August 1, 2023 to July 31, 2024).
 
As a matter of policy, MindaNews does not allow these funders to interfere in our editorial processes.
 
Do you accept leads from the public for your fact-checking initiative?
 
MindaNews encourages the public to provide us with leads not only for potential fact-check pieces but other news stories as well of interest to the general public.
Our fact checks include this paragraph encouraging readers to be part of the process: “As with all our other reports, MindaNews welcomes leads or suggestions from the public to potential fact check pieces.”

MindaNews Fact Check - Methodology

What standards do you follow when fact-checking?


As a news organization, we strictly adhere to accuracy, fairness, balance, independence, accountability and transparency not just in our fact-checking initiative but in all other aspects of our work at MindaNews.


We abide by the Philippine Press Institute’s Journalist’s Code of Ethics. Since we became part of Internews’ Philippine Fact-Checker Incubator project, we have been striving to adhere with the IFCN Code of Principles, in step with our organization’s commitment to non-partisanship, transparency and fairness.


We fact-check a claim that is specifically claimed to be a fact and involved the public interest or the welfare of the people. We debunk false claims using official government records, journals or interviews with experts. 


We don’t fact-check opinions.

How do we fact-check?

Step 1: Team members monitor press conferences, speeches, statements, news, interviews, social media sites, etc. for statements worth fact-checking.


Step 2: When a claim is worth fact-checking, a team member looks for multiple sources to dispute the claim, including tracing the original source document.


Step 3:  Fact-checked claims are then submitted to the editor for copy editing and vetting. The link/s to debunk the claim are always included in the story.  


Step 4: A rating card is prepared to accompany the fact-checked piece, or infographics if needed, to immediately flag readers what the article is all about. 


Step 5: The senior editor takes another look before the article is posted on the website and social media accounts.

Correction Policy

Consistent with our vision and mission as a media institution, we rectify any error committed. If you spot a factual error, you may notify us thru editor@mindanews.com or our Facebook Messenger @Mindanews.


Correction Workflow


  • Errors pointed out are immediately brought to the attention of the editors and the fact-checking team. 


  • The fact-checker is immediately notified for verification. 


  • Once verified, the error is to be corrected within 24 hours and vetted before publication on the website. 


  • Readers will immediately know errors have been corrected through the Editor’s note posted above the article. 


  • The person who notified MindaNews about the error will be informed that the correction has been made.

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About MindaNews

MindaNews is the news service arm of the Mindanao Institute of Journalism (MinJourn). It is composed of independent, professional journalists who believe and practice people empowerment through media. MinJourn, which is duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission with registration number CN201700385, is managed by its Board of Directors.

MindaNews values its journalistic independence. It started in May 2001 as a media cooperative and in January 2017 registered as a nonstock, nonprofit media organization.  We do not  accept funding from politicians, political parties or partisan groups.

Editorial staff

Fact-checking Unit: Romer (Bong) Sarmiento, Yas D. Ocampo

 

Mindanao Institute of Journalism

 

Board of Directors

President & CEO: Jowel Canuday, D.Phil. (oxon.)
Vice President: Romer S. Sarmiento

Members
Carolyn O. Arguillas, M.A.
Rhodora Gail T. Ilagan, Ph.D.
Amalia B. Cabusao (Doc Can.)
Robert D. Timonera
Ellen P. Alinea