A TikTok video rehashed a false claim about the late ex-president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino being charged of graft and plunder related to the alleged gold shipment to Thailand. It also revived a false claim that some 400,00 tons of gold were hidden in the Central Bank of the Philippines.
The May 28 TikTok video, which was also shared on Facebook a day after, resurrected a five-year-old news report which falsely claimed that Aquino III and six other people were charged with graft and plunder for allegedly shipping 3,500 tons of gold to the Bank of Thailand.
VERA Files Fact Check previously debunked these claims.
UNTV did produce a report on Jan. 10, 2017 about graft and plunder charges filed against Aquino. This report is now unavailable but multiple news articles pointed out that the charges were based on a document which the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) called “spurious.”
Additionally, the woman at the end of the video clip claimed that 400,000 tons of gold were hidden in the Central Bank of the Philippines. Not true. The BSP has debunked a similar claim.
The World Gold Council reported in January 2022 that only 205,238 tons of gold have been mined through history.
Read the full story on VERA Files Fact Check.
