Clip of controversial Philippine mayor 'forgetting national anthem' is manipulated

A clip with a manipulated audio has racked up millions of views in social media posts that falsely claimed it genuinely showed a controversial Philippine mayor not remembering the archipelago's national anthem during a Senate hearing. The original clip showed a senator quizzing suspended mayor Alice Guo about her birth records following questions around her citizenship.

"Alice Guo was asked to sing Bahay Kubo and Lupang Hinirang. Does she know," read a Facebook post on June 2, referring to a popular Philippine folk song and the country's national anthem.

Guo, mayor of Bamban town north of the capital Manila, was suspended by the Philippine ombudsman while an investigation was ongoing on whether she allowed illegal offshore gambling operations in Bamban.

A Senate panel was also probing allegations Guo was a Chinese citizen trained to spy on the Philippine government, the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper reported (archived link).

She has denied the allegations (archived link).

The post included a video, watched over 7.5 million times, which showed Guo saying, "I am a Filipino, and I am not a spy."

It then switches to Guo at a Philippine Senate hearing where an offscreen voice could be heard saying: "You tell us that you're not a spy, correct? If you really are a Filipino, sing Lupang Hinirang and Bahay Kubo."

Guo appears to reply to the question by saying: "Ah, your honour, I can't remember that right now. Is it okay if I check first?"

The manipulated video was also shared on Facebook including here, here and here, as well as on TikTok alongside similar claims.

Some social media users appeared to believe the false video showed a genuine exchange.

"Isn't she a mayor? How come she doesn't know it?" one user commented.

"To think she's a mayor. She should know because every Monday, we sing 'Lupang Hinirang' during the flag ceremony," another user said.

Manipulated audio

A Google reverse image search of the video's keyframes found longer versions of the footage shared by social media users for example on TikTok and YouTube in early May (archived links here and here).

But there was no exchange about the Philippine national anthem in the longer footage.

Instead, Senator Risa Hontiveros could be heard offscreen asking Guo: "Now, mayor, we were informed that your registration of birth was delayed. How old were you when you had your birth registered?"

To which Guo responded: "Ah, your honour, I can't remember that right now. Is it okay if I check first?"

Below is a screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the longer footage on YouTube (right):

The same exchange about Guo's birth registration could be heard from the 2:06:28 mark of the video of the full hearing streamed from a different angle on May 7 by the Philippine Senate's YouTube account (archived link).

The other clip of Guo at the beginning of the circulating video was from a doorstop interview after a different Senate hearing held weeks later (archived link).

The claim was also debunked by Philippine fact-checking organisation FactRakers.