At a look
- Myths concerning the Marcos gold have existed on Fb as early as 2011. The preferred model of this fable is the so-called “Tallano” gold.
- The Marcoses and their supporters have unfold the myths to justify the wealth of the household, and to persuade voters that one other Marcos presidency will raise the Philippines out of poverty.
- The falsehoods remained unchecked for years on social media. The accounts that pushed the false narrative dominated the net area till 2020, even after Rappler revealed its preliminary reality test in 2019.
- Teams and accounts touting the legacy of the Marcos administration amplified the false story on Fb.
- Beginning in 2021, teams and accounts fact-checking the myths elevated. Historians and educators have additionally launched initiatives to counter the disinformation concerning the Marcos gold, and they’re doing in order the 2022 elections close to.
MANILA, Philippines – You’ve in all probability heard it at the very least as soon as: the Marcos household has an infinite quantity of gold – so enormous that it may save not solely the nation however the entire world from poverty. They are saying it was earned by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos from being a improbable lawyer for a rich household referred to as the Tallanos earlier than he grew to become president.
The gold is for the Filipino individuals, the household’s supporters would then say. However the catch is that it’ll solely be launched and distributed as soon as Filipinos unite and re-establish the “Bagong Lipunan” or “New Society,” a motion spearheaded by Marcos when he was in energy.
There are different variations of the parable, such because the existence of the Yamashita treasure from World Warfare II and the hoax that nationwide hero Jose Rizal bequeathed his hard-earned gold to the late dictator. Irrespective of the origin of those myths, their purpose is similar: to absolve the Marcos household from its kleptocracy, and persuade people who one other Marcos presidency will raise the Philippines from poverty.
The myths appear to be working. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., the dictator’s son, has been the frontrunner within the presidential race since he filed his certificates of candidacy.
The myths have been shared again and again, particularly on social media. A scan of Fb posts containing the phrases “Marcos” and “gold” confirmed that the parable had been shared by fringe teams of Marcos loyalists as early as 2011, and was finally additional propagated by larger partisan pages because the years glided by.
Because the 2022 elections strategy, a community of pages and teams that debunk the legendary Marcos gold has emerged. Historians have additionally taken up arms as a result of they realized that many Filipinos at the moment are believing the lies.
Right here’s what the info present concerning the city legend that’s the Marcos gold.
The parable has existed on-line as early as 2011
The myths concerning the gold of the Marcoses remained unchecked for a few years. Rappler, for one, fact-checked the Tallano gold fable again in 2019. Citing historian Xiao Chua, the actual fact test piece laid out 5 the reason why there was simply no historic proof {that a} royal household referred to as Tallano dominated over a kingdom referred to as Maharlika throughout pre-colonial Philippines.
Nevertheless, it took some time for the actual fact checks to catch as much as the posts selling the parable on Fb.
Fb information present that posts concerning the Marcos gold have existed as early as 2011. There have been just a few posts from 2011 till 2013, however the quantity steadily grew from 2014 to 2020. Throughout this era, Marcos Jr. ran for the vice presidency within the 2016 elections and his sister Imee received a Senate seat in 2019. The amount of posts then skyrocketed in 2021, when Bongbong filed his certificates of candidacy for president, reaching a peak of over 21,000 posts that 12 months.
The pattern is just like how Marcos fan teams and pages have been created over time. An earlier Rappler investigation confirmed that these kinds of teams began to extend in 2014, across the time former first woman Imelda Marcos first talked about she needed her son to run for president.
The earliest posts discovered within the scan touched on completely different variations of the Marcos gold fable. There was the Yamashita gold hoax, which stated that the late dictator’s fortune got here from the purported treasure left by Japanese Basic Yamashita after World Warfare II, and the supposed existence of the Maharlika kingdom dominated over by the Tagean-Tallano clan.
These tales aimed to determine that the late dictator was already rich even earlier than he grew to become president, so there was no motive for him to steal public funds. (FALSE: It’s not possible for Marcos’ wealth to be sourced from public funds)
From 2014 onwards, Fb pages by Marcos loyalist fringe teams performed an enormous function within the unfold of the story of the Tallano gold, which seemed to be the most well-liked variation of the Marcos gold myths. Within the checklist of the highest 15 teams and pages with probably the most posts concerning the Marcos gold, three have been Fb pages devoted to posting content material that mixed theology and conspiracy theories to perpetuate the assumption that the Tallano gold exists.
These pages are the “Alpha Omega World Growth Marshall Programme,” “THE UNIVERSAL QUEEN OF QUEENS FOUNDATION INC.,” and “Alpha Omega World Dev’t Marshall Programme Phils.” The primary two pages’ earliest posts containing the phrases Marcos and gold have been shared in 2014, whereas the third web page’s was in 2016. All three pages have continued to publish about Marcos gold as of March 2022.
The frequent thread between these pages is Tiburcio “TVM” Marcos, the so-called “world chairman” of each teams – the Alpha Omega World Growth Marshall Programme and The Common Queen of Queens Basis – which each have the mission to “eradicate poverty and uplift the dignity of the Filipino individuals.”
Tiburcio Marcos has made a number of improbable claims up to now, together with his declaration that he’s the one “reputable” son of the late dictator Ferdinand and that he’s the “final successor inheritor” of the non-existent pre-colonial household Ferdinand lawyered for, the Tallanos. Like Marcos Jr., Tiburcio had filed his certificates of candidacy to run for president within the 2022 elections, however he was later declared a nuisance candidate by the Fee on Elections. He has additionally unfold the conspiracy concept that Marcos Jr. is an “impostor” of the true Bongbong who supposedly died in 1975. (READ: Stuff made for reality checks: Petition accuses Bongbong Marcos of faking… himself)
Such conspiracy theories are additionally current within the pages of the organizations he heads. The opposite unfounded assertions that the pages have propagated embrace the declare that Philippine nationwide hero Jose Rizal owned a “White Vatican Account” containing gold, which the late dictator supposedly inherited. There have been even false claims that Rizal and Ferdinand established the World Financial institution.
These narratives continued to multiply on completely different social media platforms over time, together with Fb, YouTube, and TikTok. The Fb scan confirmed that the phrases “Tallano,” “Vatican,” “Maharlika,” and “Aquino” have been the highest phrases included in posts concerning the supposed Marcos gold.
The parable goes mainstream
As we speak, posts concerning the supposed Marcos gold are ample on Fb, with larger accounts sharing content material concerning the fable. Which means that the parable is not simply an city legend propagated by fringe teams. They’re additionally now used to persuade individuals for a possible Marcos comeback to Malacañang.
All the posts included within the scan have been then run beneath group detection to find out completely different networks of accounts. The group detection linked the accounts that shared the identical hyperlink, and communities shaped when a bunch of accounts was discovered to share the identical sources. The information confirmed 5 primary communities:
- Fringe teams
- Truth checkers and media
- Marcos legacy teams and pages
- Marcos-Duterte and faux historical past teams
- Uniteam supporters
(The community map under exhibits the communities on Fb sharing content material about Marcos gold. Please enable time for the info visualization to load.)
Though the perimeter teams began the conversations, they’re few in comparison with the opposite communities. Previous to the surge of posts in 2021, many of the posts about Marcos gold could possibly be attributed to the third group that’s composed of teams and pages sharing exaggerated achievements of the Marcos regime. Accounts on this group began to dominate the community in 2015 and continued to take action even after the preliminary reality checks performed by Rappler in 2019 and Vera Recordsdata in 2020.
A key consultant of this group is the Fb web page PSSAP (PARA SA SAMBAYANANG PILIPINO) Underground Media, a recidivist pro-Marcos account that has been flagged a number of occasions by third-party reality checkers for sharing false info. This account has additionally attacked journalists and media teams for reporting critically concerning the Marcoses.
The scan discovered that the posts with the very best shares on Fb belong to the group of Marcos legacy teams and pages. These have been:
These 4 pages have all been flagged for posting false info up to now.
The fifth group, which is usually composed of accounts supporting the Bongbong-Sara Duterte Uniteam alliance, is a reasonably new group that solely ramped up its sharing of posts concerning the supposed Marcos gold beginning in October 2021. It’s barely completely different from the fourth group, the Marcos-Duterte and faux historical past teams, which has been sharing the parable as early as 2016. The group of the Marcos-Duterte and faux historical past teams additionally contained posts supportive of the respective fathers of the Uniteam tandem.
Of the 5 communities, solely the group of reality checkers and media accommodates accounts with posts that debunk the parable. It additionally contains the verified pages of stories organizations, akin to Rappler, Philippine Star, Inquirer.internet, OnePH, and Philstar.com.
Impression of reality checking
The highest phrases included within the posts have been additionally tracked alongside the phrases “pretend,” “false,” or “hindi totoo (not true)” to check what number of posts have been debunking the parable, and to trace after they began to ramp up.
The information present that the variety of posts containing the key phrases “pretend,” “false,” or “hindi totoo” was lagging behind the opposite key phrases till the third quarter of 2021, nevertheless it surged to the second spot by the final quarter of 2021. It was in October 2021 when Marcos Jr. introduced that he would run for the presidency.
That is additionally evident in the neighborhood maps when cut up by 12 months. Posts by the group of reality checkers and the media have began to outnumber the remainder beginning in 2021, whereas posts from the communities of fringe teams and Marcos legacy pages decreased between January and March 2022.
Francisco Jayme Paolo Guiang, assistant professor on the College of the Philippines Division of Historical past, stated that the Marcos gold myths have been round even earlier than social media grew to become well-liked within the Philippines, however there have been no makes an attempt to check or disprove them as a result of it was thought-about a mere rumor. He stated that the myths unfold round have been purely anecdotal, and there have been simply no main sources that might affirm the existence of the gold.
“The rationale why there are not any educational research earlier than to give attention to this fable is that it doesn’t have an effect on public discourse. So it doesn’t require skilled consideration from skilled historians. Now, there are such a lot of individuals who imagine [that the Marcoses will distribute gold once they win],” Guiang instructed Rappler in a mixture of English and Filipino in an interview in April 2022.
Chua, whom Rappler consulted for its 2019 reality test on the Tallano gold, gave the identical rationalization for why historians by no means actually paid consideration to the myths earlier than. “As a result of we by no means thought individuals will actually imagine it. There’s at all times a saying, ang pumatol sa siraulo ay siraulo (he who engages with a deranged individual is himself deranged),” Chua stated in a message to Rappler in April 2022.
Guiang defined that, in doing historic evaluation, main sources are vital. This proved to be a significant consideration amongst historians as a result of they couldn’t delve into matters that have been solely based mostly on rumour.
“The commonest among the many variations [of the gold myth] is that there isn’t any single main supply that may show that there’s gold in existence that got here from a Tallano clan, for instance, or the so-called Yamashita, or whatnot. The proof that we’ve got relating to the wealth of the Marcoses is the paper path that factors to graft and corruption. There are court docket information,” Guiang stated.
Guiang can be a convenor of the Akademiya at Bayan Kontra Disimpormasyon at Dayaan (ABKD), a community of educators and educational establishments established in 2021 to struggle disinformation and fraud within the 2022 elections. The group actively campaigns in opposition to historic distortions by internet hosting completely different webinars and common posting of reality checks on its Fb web page.
Nonetheless, the accounts pushing again in opposition to the disinformation surrounding the fabled Marcos gold have an extended option to go. Within the checklist of the highest 10 accounts with the very best interactions (likes, feedback, and shares) on their posts concerning the Marcos gold since 2011, solely 4 accounts belong to the group of reality checkers and the media.
Guiang additionally admitted that their response had been reactive, however maintained that it was nonetheless important. “Medyo naghahabol, pero ayun nga eh, seryosong problema na siya,” he stated. (We’re attempting to catch up, nevertheless it’s as a result of it’s turn out to be a major problem now.)
In February, ABKD hosted a webinar that debunked the Tallano gold fable. It was led by Ateneo de Manila College historical past professor Francis Gealogo, who refuted the associated claims one after the other – from the existence of the Tallano royal clan to the credibility of the sources sharing the lies.
“This doesn’t appear to be an accident. This seems to be like an organized, systematic technique that has an enormous group and funds, and there’s somebody orchestrating it. We have to maintain accountable the actors behind this, in order that we don’t blame those that have been victimized by disinformation,” Gealogo stated in Filipino in the course of the webinar.
In 2018, Fb introduced that it had taken down 95 pages and 39 accounts within the Philippines that violated its spam or authenticity tips. A Rappler investigation confirmed that among the accounts taken down have been linked to the Marcos propaganda community.
In 2020, Fb took down one other batch of accounts created in March and April 2019 tied to a Chinese language community. Social analytics agency Graphika stated the community had a “significantly hanging” give attention to Imee, who ran for a Senate seat in 2019 and received. Imee admitted in January 2021 that she nonetheless holds a grudge over the takedown.
Gold or no gold? Even the Marcoses can’t agree
One widely-shared content material that the supporters of the Marcoses cite in spreading the gold fable is a 2013 interview with Imelda Marcos in GMA Information TV’s present Powerhouse, hosted by Mel Tiangco. Imelda talked about how her husband supposedly invested in gold early in his profession, and the way they have been prepared to share it with the world.
“No, this may save the world. That is the explanation why I wish to survive. And it’s not for me anymore…. [We’re willing to give to] not solely the Philippines, however the world,” Imelda stated.
A reverse picture search of among the frames from the interview confirmed that a number of pro-Marcos accounts have shared clips of this interview throughout completely different social media platforms to persuade others that the Marcoses didn’t steal from the general public and that one other Marcos presidency may raise the Philippines out of poverty utilizing the Marcos household’s gold.
The household stood by this protection, at the very least till Marcos Jr. determined to run for the presidency. Newspaper clippings and court docket pleadings obtained by Rappler confirmed that he instructed an Inquirer journalist in 1990: “Solely I do know the place the gold is.”
However in January, Bongbong himself denied the existence of such gold for Filipinos. “In my complete life, I’ve not seen any gold like that. I do know many who’ve been digging right here and there, however I haven’t seen any of the gold that they’ve been saying. Possibly they know one thing, simply let me know,” Marcos Jr. stated in a mixture of English and Filipino in an interview with One Information.
(Editor’s Observe: In a earlier model of this story, we mistakenly stated that Bongbong denied the gold claims in January 2021. This has been corrected.)
This was additionally the response of Vic Rodriguez, spokesperson of Marcos Jr., when requested concerning the Tallano gold eight days earlier than Marcos Jr. made his assertion. (WATCH: Tallano gold? ‘Hindi ko alam iyan,’ says Marcos Jr. spokesman)
Whether or not or not the Marcoses and their supporters proceed to imagine the gold fable, the actual fact stays that there isn’t any robust proof that factors to the existence of the fabled Marcos gold. Extra accounts look like taking effort and time to publish on Fb to disprove the city legend, too, because the elections close to.
The query is, will the actual fact checks and posts that debunk the parable now be capable of reverse the injury introduced by years of disinformation concerning the Marcos gold? – with reviews from Gemma B. Mendoza, Bingbong Recto, and Don Kevin Hapal/Rappler.com
This research is a part of #FactsFirstPH’s efforts in finding out and tackling disinformation on-line, to equip voters with verified info forward of the upcoming nationwide and native 2022 elections. #FactsFirstPH is a coalition of greater than 120 teams from the media, civil society, enterprise, analysis, authorized sectors, and the Church, that search to fight disinformation.
