A YouTube channel falsely claimed in at least two of its posts that a “total hard lockdown” is about to be implemented in the country.
On Jan. Bowman 2 addicting games. 13, MJ Journals published a video that bore this headline: “BUONG PILIPINAS, ISASAILALIM MULI SA TOTAL LOCKDOWN (Entire Philippines to be under total lockdown again).”
Five days later, it posted the same video and repeated the claim, but limited the area covered to only the island of Luzon: “BUONG LUZON, ISASAILALIM SA TOTAL HARD LOCKDOWN (Whole Luzon to be under total hard lockdown).”
The Head Hunters of Northern Luzon: From Ifugao to Kalinga, a Ride Through the Mountains of Northern Luzon, With an Appendix on the Independence of the Philippines by Cornelis De Witt Willcox (1912). The Ilocos and Cordillera Provinces: A General Physical and Socio-economic Profile by Romeo B. Cleto, with Christoph J. Dehn, Hilario J. What to eat in Central Luzon? 4 most popular, famous and iconic traditional Southeast Asian national and local dishes, original recipes, pairing tips, and the best authentic restaurants with Southeast Asian cuisine in Central Luzon. Luzon, largest and most important island of the Philippines. It is the site of Manila, the nation’s capital and major metropolis, and of Quezon City. Located on the northern part of the Philippine archipelago, it is bounded by the Philippine Sea (east), Sibuyan Sea (south), and the South China Sea (west). The highest peak in the whole of Luzon, Mount Pulag towers imperiously over its surroundings. It’s easy to see why various indigenous people consider it to be sacred. Lying at the heart of the national park of the same name, Mount Pulag is the third-highest mountain in the Philippines and attracts lots of mountain climbers and hikers.
These posts are false. No announcements have been made by the president nor the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), about implementing a country-wide or Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) or total lockdown.
Both 79-second videos used the entirety of a Dec. 29 report by state-run broadcaster People’s Television Network about President Rodrigo Duterte’s announcement a day earlier to implement a general community quarantine (GCQ) in Metro Manila and seven other cities and provinces for the whole of January.
Apart from the eight areas, the rest of the country was placed under modified GCQ for the same time period.
According to an IATF document amended Jan. 14, an ECQ restricts movement of residents only to accessing essential goods and services, and for frontliners and essential workers to go to work. It also imposes strict business regulations, and heightened presence of uniformed personnel.
Meanwhile, a GCQ allows travel for more offices and industries. More business operations may open and some mass transportation are allowed to operate.
A modified GCQ allows indoor and outdoor non-contact sports activities as well as some mass gatherings so long as wearing of face masks and other health protocols are observed. Businesses and government agencies, except barber shops and restaurants, can operate at full capacity.
Asked whether the national government plans to implement a total lockdown due to the emergence of a new COVID-19 variant, Palace spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Jan. 14 briefing that quarantine classifications will not change as these are decided on a monthly basis.
In a Laging Handa briefing the same day, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said a stricter community quarantine is not yet warranted. He explained that the growth of COVID-19 cases and healthcare capacity rates determine the decision to strengthen or loosen area quarantine implementation.
The erroneous claims started appearing after the Philippine Genome Center confirmed on Jan. 13 that the more virulent variant of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) from the United Kingdom has entered the country.
Both MJ Journals’ erroneous videos reached tens of thousands of social media users. Its Jan. 13 video got 225,000 views on YouTube and 4,000 interactions on Facebook (FB), according to social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle.
Meanwhile, its Jan. 18 video got 99,000 views on YouTube and 534 FB interactions. Super mario flashobey games.
A version of the spurious Jan. 13 video was also embedded in an article by website Kidstva, which got around 3,200 FB interactions and could have reached 31,000 people. Its top three traffic generators are FB pages SuperTekla, News Viral PH, and Thats Showbiz.
MJ Journals was created in November 2019,In Luzon&& Larong Pinoy News
Kidstva in October 2018.(Editor's Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
FOR FURTHER READING
Android phone zte user manual. President Rodrigo Duterte placed the entire Luzon island under an “enhanced community quarantine” on…
The circulating graphic is from a now-deleted May 18 post by a Palawan municipality.
| Total local government units | |
|---|---|
| Regions | 8 |
| Provinces | 38 |
| Cities | 73 |
| Municipalities | 698 |
| Barangays | 20,508 |
| Population (2015) | 57,470,097 |
Luzon is the most populated of the three island groups making up the Philippine Archipelago. Its largest islands are the Luzon landmass, Palawan, Mindoro, Masbate, and Catanduanes.
As of 2015, Luzon had a total population of 57,470,097, representing 56.91% of the entire population of the Philippines.
Location
The island group has eight (8) regions, namely, Region I (Ilocos Region), Region II (Cagayan Valley), Region III (Central Luzon), Region IV‑A (CALABARZON), MIMAROPA Region, Region V (Bicol Region), Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), and the National Capital Region (NCR) where Manila, the nation's capital city, is located.
Luzon is bordered, clockwise from the North, by the Luzon Strait (Bashi Channel), Philippine Sea, San Bernardino Strait, Samar Sea, Visayan Sea, Jintotolo Channel, Sibuyan Sea, Tablas Strait, Sulu Sea, Balabac Strait, and the South China Sea.
map of regions
List of regions
The regions of Luzon encompass a total of thirty-eight (38) provinces, with an aggregate of seventy-three (73) cities, and 698 municipalities. The total number of barangays in the island group is 20,508.
| Region | Population (2015) | Regional center | Provinces | Total cities (HUC) | Total cities (ICC) | Total cities (CC) | Total mun | Total brgy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ilocos Region(Region I) | 5,026,128 | San Fernando | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 116 | 3,265 |
| Cagayan Valley(Region II) | 3,451,410 | Tuguegarao | 5 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 89 | 2,311 |
| Central Luzon(Region III) | 11,218,177 | San Fernando | 7 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 116 | 3,102 |
| CALABARZON(Region IV‑A) | 14,414,774 | Calamba | 5 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 123 | 4,018 |
| Bicol Region(Region V) | 5,796,989 | Legazpi | 6 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 107 | 3,471 |
| National Capital Region(NCR) | 12,877,253 | Manila | 0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1,706 |
| Cordillera Administrative Region(CAR) | 1,722,006 | Baguio | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 75 | 1,176 |
| MIMAROPA Region | 2,963,360 | Calapan | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 71 | 1,459 |
| Luzon Total | 57,470,097 | 38 | 21 | 3 | 49 | 698 | 20,508 |
Historical population
The population of Luzon grew from 14,061,448 in 1960 to 57,470,097 in 2015, an increase of 43,408,649 people. The latest census figures in 2015 denote a positive growth rate of 1.79%, or an increase of 5,107,098 people, from the previous population of 52,362,999 in 2010.
| Census date | Population | Growth rate |
|---|---|---|
| 4,101,516 | – | |
| 5,397,401 | 1.75% | |
| 8,165,778 | 2.09% | |
| 9,876,263 | 1.97% | |
| 14,061,448 | 3.16% | |
| 19,688,100 | 3.35% | |
| 22,790,274 | 2.98% | |
| 26,080,694 | 2.73% | |
| 33,357,887 | 2.49% | |
| 38,249,776 | 2.60% | |
| 42,822,686 | 2.45% | |
| 49,799,965 | 2.10% | |
| 52,362,999 | 1.84% | |
| 57,470,097 | 1.79% |
Sources
- Historical population derived from the sum of populations of regions currently under the island group. These region populations are derived from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
- Maps utilize OpenStreetMap data available under the Open Data Commons Open Database License.
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