FACT CHECK: Concert photo misrepresented as Duterte prayer rally crowd in Cebu

Claim: A photo shows a massive crowd of people attending the February 25 “Hakbang ng Maisug” prayer rally organized by supporters of former president Rodrigo Duterte in Cebu City. 

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: A user on X (formerly Twitter) posted a screen-grabbed photo that allegedly showed an aerial view of the crowd attending the prayer rally at the South Road Properties in Cebu City.

The caption of the post says: “Nilangaw dw yung Cebu prayer rally, sbi ng mga paid trolls at utong supporters ni bangag Marcos Jr, ano twag nyo dto? Surely, yung pagkatao nyo, hindi lang nilalangaw, inuuod na!”

([If the] Cebu prayer rally flopped, as paid trolls and supporters of a “high” Marcos Jr. say, [then] what do you call this? Surely, your personality is not only infested but rotting as well!)

As of writing, the post has garnered 53,000 views, 356 likes, 64 combined reposts and retweets, and 118 replies. 

The facts: Searching the keywords “Planetshakers in Cebu,” Rappler found that the supposed screen-grabbed photo of the crowd shows concertgoers of the worship music band, not attendees of the Duterte prayer rally.

The photo was taken from aerial footage of a crowd filmed during the Planetshakers’ “Show Me Your Glory” event at SM Seaside Cebu concert grounds on February 23.

The original video was uploaded as a Facebook reel on the page “Cebu ni bai” two days before the Duterte prayer rally. The author clearly states in the caption that the drone footage was taken during the Planetshakers live in Cebu event.

The screen-grabbed photo in the misleading X post even showed the original video’s caption with the text “Planetshakers live in Cebu.”

Cebu prayer rally: Following a protest rally held in Davao City last January, Duterte supporters held another prayer rally in Cebu City on February 25 to call for transparency and accountability from the current Marcos administration over “signature-buying” allegations related to the people’s initiative campaign to amend the Constitution. 

In a press briefing in Camp Crame on February 26, Philippine National Police chief General Benjamin Acorda Jr. said that while 40,000 attendees were anticipated to participate in the Cebu prayer rally, only an estimated 5,000 people went to the event. – Larry Chavez/Rappler.com

Larry Chavez is a graduate of Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program here.

Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.