FALSE: China offers 1 billion per family in Batanes to kick them out

Jessie Marco Cabrera

A TikTok post dated July 10 by the account “PH News Update” reported that China will pay 1 billion per family in Batanes for them to leave the place following Chinese scholars’ claims that the province belongs to their country.

CLAIM:

The post claimed that China will pay—not specifying the currency—1 billion for each family in Batanes in a desperate attempt for them to leave.

RATING:

False

CONCLUSION:

Despite citing “public internet news and media reports,” there is no retrievable source for the post’s claim. China did not declare that it would pay 1 billion to each family in Batanes.

THE FACTS:

• Researchers from Jinan University in China claimed that Batanes is a part of China through Taiwan, asserting that China maintains sovereignty over the islands.
• The National Historical Commission of the Philippines refuted the claims of the scholars, arguing that “current satellite and oceanographic data by the Philippines and other nations clearly show a continuous shelf extending from Northern Luzon through the Babuyan and Batanes Islands, and into parts of the Taiwan archipelago. The Philippines claims a greater right over the subject territories from this perspective.”
• There are no media reports supporting this claim.