Fact check: Did the UniTeam rallies really draw half the people in Pangasinan?

MANILA, Philippines — The campaign team of Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has claimed that more than two million residents of Pangasinan went out of their residences to see and greet the presidential candidate during his two-day visit to the province.

CLAIM: In a statement, the Marcos campaign said more than half of the total population went out to see their caravan. 

RATING: This is false. 

FACTS: The actual crowd was less than half the number they claimed.

What they said 

"Of the three million population of Pangasinan, more than half of them have supported and participated in every caravan and grand rally of presidential candidate Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. and some of the UniTeam’s senatorial candidates," a statement issued by Marcos' campaign team reads.

"Consolidated data from the Philippine National Police showed that more than two million Pangasinense went out of their residences to see and greet Marcos during his two-day visit as he fulfilled his promise to return to the province to meet them again."

The media release brought up the number in arguing that "it is very clear that the Pangasinense are all in for the BBM-Sara UniTeam and their call for unity."

"Supporters of all ages did not miss the opportunity to see Marcos and the hope he brings to the people... The crowds seemed to be non-stop in every street the caravan passed by," it also said. 

What they left out 

It is unclear how the UniTeam acquired its figures supposedly from the PNP. 

Philstar.com reached out to Police Lt. Col. Abubakar Mangelen, information officer of Police Regional Office 1, to confirm the crowd size. 

"As per operations, more or less 600,000 to 800,000," he said in a Viber message.

Police Maj. Katelyne Awingan, information officer of the Pangasinan Police Provincial Office also told Philstar.com in a text message that "the estimate is 1.2 million for [the] two-day event in the whole province."

Essential context 

The Pangasinan provincial government said on its website that based on the 2020 census of population, the province has "registered a total population of 3,163,190 and ranks sixth in the country."

The two million being claimed by the Marcos team would mean that some 63% of the total population went out to welcome the tandem. 

The actual figure given by the PNP makes a still sizeable 25% of the population. 

Marcos was in Pangasinan over the weekend for campaign sorties as he skipped the CNN Presidential Debates. 

Why did we fact check this?

Media outlet Sonshine Media Network International picked up the statement by Marcos' team and reported it as true. 

The tweet has since been retweeted or quoted more than 500 times and has been liked more than 1,200 times on Twitter as of this post. — Franco Luna with a report from Kristine Joy Patag
 

This story is part of the Philippine Fact-check Incubator, an Internews initiative to build the fact-checking capacity of news organizations in the Philippines and encourage participation in global fact-checking efforts.

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