An image has been shared hundreds of times in multiple posts on Facebook which claim it shows US leader Donald Trump holding a picture of the son of the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos alongside this message: "The Next President". The claim is false; the image has been doctored from a photo which shows Trump holding an executive order.
The image is contained in a Facebook post, which was published on June 6, 2019, and has been shared more than 650 times.
It shows US President Donald Trump holding up a photo of Filipino politician Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
He is the son of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who led the Philippines for two decades until he was toppled in a 1986 “People Power” revolution.
Next to Bongbong’s photo is a white page with the words “The Next President” and Trump’s signature.
Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post:
The post’s caption states: “100 % MR. PRESIDENT TRUMP...THAT BBM WILL BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINE’S REPUBLIC”.
“BBM” is a shorthand reference to “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
The same image and caption were also shared elsewhere on Facebook with a similar claim.
The claim is false; the image has been doctored from a photo which shows Trump holding an executive order.
A reverse image search on Google found the original photo published in a Forbes magazine article, dated January 24, 2017, about Trump withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact.
Below is a screenshot of the report:
The caption credited the photo to AFP. A keyword search of AFP’s archives found an image taken on January 23, 2017.
The AFP photo caption states: “United States President Donald Trump signs the Executive Order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) after signing it in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on Monday, January 23, 2017.
“The other two Executive Orders concerned a US Government hiring freeze for all departments but the military and ‘Mexico City’ which bans federal funding of abortions overseas”.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading posts (L) and the AFP photo (R):
Bongbong ran for vice president in 2016 and lost, as reported by AFP at the time. He protested the result, prompting a recount that is ongoing; here is a Philippine government information page about the recount, published January 22, 2019.