A photo has been shared thousands of times in multiple Facebook posts in April 2020 alongside a claim it shows Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte carrying out presidential duties during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It shows Duterte\xa0sitting in a vehicle with Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, a close presidential aide. Both men can be seen wearing military fatigues., Below is a screenshot of the misleading post:, Part of the post’s lengthy Tagalog-language caption translates to English as: "While others are always yapping, criticising the government the president who is 74 years old with a weak body and immune system more prone to virus that could kill him if he gets hit with it, he is making rounds and ensuring the security of us Filipinos. He chose to make rounds on the ground instead of sleep in the air-conditioned Malacañang palace and wait for updates or news from his people.", The post states Duterte and Go are wearing military uniforms because of their respective roles as chief commander of the Philippine military and army reservist., The photo was also shared here, here, here, here, here and here on Facebook alongside a\xa0similar claim., The claim is false; the photo has circulated in reports since 2017 about\xa0Duterte\xa0visiting the Philippine city of Marawi in 2017., A reverse image search on Google found the same photo published here in an August 24, 2017 tweet by CNN Philippines, the Filipino arm of the US-based media channel., LOOK: President Rodrigo Duterte visits the main battle area in Marawi for the first time | 📷: Bong Go pic.twitter.com/c2vxirokb7, Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading posts (L) and the photo in the CNN Philippines Twitter post (R):, The photo was also published in this tweet by the Philippine news channel News5\xa0on August 24, 2017., Both CNN Philippines and News5 credited the photo to Go., In response to\xa0the misleading posts, Go told AFP by\xa0text message on April 22, 2020 that the claims were “part of non stop daily fake news”., Marawi was besieged by armed Abu Sayyaf and Maute militants between May and October 2017, in an operation that Philippine authorities say aimed to establish a Southeast Asian base for the Islamic state\xa0group. The five-month armed conflict resulted in almost 1,200 fatalities before it ended on October 17, 2017., , Copyright © AFP 2017-2020.  All rights reserved.  Users can access and consult this website and use the share features available for personal, private, and non-commercial purposes.  Any other use, in particular any reproduction, communication to the public or distribution of the content of this website, in whole or in part, for any other purpose and/or by any other means, without a specific licence agreement signed with AFP, is strictly prohibited.  The subject matter depicted or included via links within the Fact Checking content is provided to the extent necessary for correct understanding of the verification of the information concerned.  AFP has not obtained any rights from the authors or copyright owners of this third party content and shall incur no liability in this regard.  AFP and its logo are registered trademarks.
This photo has circulated in reports since 2017 about Rodrigo Duterte visiting Marawi | AFP Fact Check