FACT CHECK: Marcos did not unveil new ‘PBBM army’

Claim: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has unveiled a new army that shocked China and the whole world.

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The claim was made in a video uploaded on December 4, which has garnered 99,000 views and 4,600 likes as of writing, with over 500 positive comments from viewers in the comment section. The channel that posted the video, “Boss Balita TV,” has 527,000 subscribers. 

The video is titled, “Nagimbal ang China! Grabe Pres BBM! Nagulat buo mundo! PBBM army inilabas na! Unang sundalo ni PBBM!”

(China was shocked! President Bongbong Marcos is unbelievable! The whole world was surprised! PBBM army was unveiled! PBBM’s first soldiers!)

The video begins with a narrator saying, “PBBM army inilabas na. Nagulat ang China sa unang sundalong pag-giyera ni PBBM. Buong mundo ang nagulat.”

(PBBM army has been revealed. China was surprised by BBM’s first soldiers geared for war. The whole world was surprised.)

The facts: There is no official declaration of a so-called “PBBM army,” nor was there any international response to the creation of such a force. The video does not provide any evidence to support the claim that Marcos has unveiled the supposed military force.

The video’s title and thumbnail are merely clickbait. The thumbnail shows Marcos holding up a document with photos of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the background, creating the misleading impression that the document and the footage are related to the inauguration of a new military force. 

Unrelated clip: The video shows clips from the AFP’s Major Services Officer Candidate Course Joint Graduation Ceremony held on December 1. The President was the guest of honor at the ceremony and delivered a keynote speech emphasizing the AFP’s commitment to the Constitution and its role in defending Philippine sovereignty.

In the video, Marcos explicitly tells the graduates that their “loyalty must not be [to] any individual or any faction, but only to the Republic.”

Marcos’ speech also referenced growing challenges faced by the country, particularly territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea, which refers to the maritime areas along the western side of the Philippine archipelago that are within the country’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

“As such, we must continue to defend our rights in the West Philippine Sea, where our fishermen and our soldiers stand their ground amidst growing challenges. We will stay vigilant against any attempt to weaken our sovereignty or test our resolve,” the President said.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, ignoring the 2016 arbitral ruling in favor of the Philippines. Over the past year, tensions have risen between Manila and Beijing, with a recent incident on December 13 showing Filipino fishermen hurt when Chinese coast guard ships fired a water cannon in a disputed South China Sea shoal. – Samantha Uy/Rappler.com

Samantha Ysabel Uy is a Rappler volunteer. She is a third-year Broadcast Media Arts and Studies student at the University of the Philippines Diliman.

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