Guinness World Records on Wednesday debunked a claim made on social media by supporters of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte-Carpio that a UniTeam gathering in Ilocos Norte is the “world’s longest caravan.”
The claim was posted on March 26 on the Facebook page titled, “Bbm-Sara Uniteam Headquarters Northern Luzon, Crown Legacy Hotel Baguio.”
The post did not mention when the caravan happened.
Marcos has said he is not spreading false information, especially about the administration of his father, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
In 2010, Marcos Jr. said the country benefited from the imposition of Martial Law in 1972 by his father.
“Objective indicators” such as the poverty rate, the Philippines’ international status, and the government’s financial situation while his father was in power show that the country was in better days then, he said at that time.
Public records show the administration of Marcos Sr. from 1965 to 1986 embezzled as much as $10 billion and committed thousands of rights abuses including torture and killings, some victims of which are still alive.
The Marcoses were ousted from power in 1986 through the People Power Revolution.
Experts say propagandists of Marcos Jr. are using social media to sanitize history. Journalists and data analysts have reported on false and misleading content across social media platforms to whitewash martial law atrocities.
In 2020, a former employee of Cambridge Analytica said Marcos Jr. allegedly asked the defunct political consulting firm to rebrand his family’s image on social media. The Marcos camp has denied this claim. (abs-cbn)