A video of a supposed seaplane assisting the BRP Sierra Madre’s operations in Ayungin Shoal has been shared on Facebook (FB). This is false. The aircraft in the clip belongs to Japan.
Posted on May 13, the 24-second video shows an amphibious aircraft taking off from a bay. It bears this text:
“SEA PLANE FOR BRP SIERRA MADRE.”
The reel’s caption included the hashtag #AFPyoucanTRUST used by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in its social media updates.
The video shows the search and rescue amphibian aircraft manufactured by Japanese company ShinMaywa for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), not the AFP.
YouTube channel たのおま uploaded the original video on April 2 showing the US-2 taking off from Etajima Bay on March 30. Other YouTube channels posted clips of the same event.
There are no posts from the JMSDF or the AFP on the US-2’s supposed deployment to the military outpost. There are no reports of the Philippines planning to acquire such aircraft either.
One of the JMSDF’s US-2 units only participated in the multilateral exercise Sama Sama-Lumbas 2022 with the Philippines and other countries in 2022.
The false video was uploaded two weeks after the AFP monitored the presence of three Chinese research vessels at Ayungin Shoal.
On April 11, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos was in a trilateral meeting with United States President Joe Biden and Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida where they agreed to prioritize security and defense in the Indo-Pacific region among other matters.
Japan’s representatives also participated as observers in the recently-concluded Balikatan Exercise between the U.S. and the Philippines.
The reel uploaded by the FB page Menseen Reaction Vlogs (created on Oct. 26, 2023) garnered 667 reactions, 11 comments, 14 shares and 22,000 views.
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