“Baby Snake”: TV5 Slithers Down the Bottom

JEERS TO TV5’s Aksyon Tanghali’s Balita-Serye segment for airing an extended report about a 37-year-old woman in Barangay Palkan, Polomolok, South Cotabato, who supposedly gave birth to a snake.

The story first went viral in social media before Aksyon Tonite picked it up on Thursday, February 18, featuring images of the supposed “baby snake,” as well as accounts from the woman’s mother, other relatives and neighbors, all of which were drawn from social media platforms.

Aksyon Tonite showed the results of the ultrasound tests which they got from the hospital where the woman had undergone a medical check-up in January.  The tests showed that she was pregnant with a human baby. The report did not have anything from the woman herself who was supposed to have been the subject of the report. There was no reference at all to credible sources who could speak about such a phenomenon happening.

TV5’s primetime news program Aksyon followed up on the following day with the same content, but this time featuring an unidentified wildlife expert who disputed the claims.

The following week, Balita-Serye released five three-minute videos on this “story” from February 22 to 26, still offering no new relevant information.

This supposed story was obviously driven by the network’s desire to ride on the “baby snake’s” social media popularity, doing so only to boost ratings. If it wanted to follow up the story, it could have done so by establishing it as the hoax that it was. From the beginning, the reports were set to milk the story first, before actually getting to the point that the story was not to be believed.
(Part 1: “Ginang, nagsilang ng ahas?” Part 2: “Ginang na nanganak ng ahas, nasaksihan ng albularyo, kanyang ina” Part 3: “Ginang na nanganak umano ng ahas, madalas daw sa sapa” Part 4: “Babaeng nanganak umano ng ahas, may pinagtatakpan lang?” Part 5: “Ginang na nanganak umano ng ahas, nagtatago na?”)

Such a pity then that TV5, a professional newsgathering organization, decided to follow social media all the way to the bottom on this one.

GMA-7’s Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho (KMJS) also joined the bandwagon but included an interview with the woman who was the subject of the story.  KMJS also interviewed a veterinarian who properly identified the creature as a kind of eel or igat, which thrives abundantly in the pond where the woman washes clothes. The veterinarian emphasized the impossibility of such animals entering the human body. KMJS also interviewed the doctor who examined the woman who said that   based on ultrasound results, the woman was already on her ninth week.

Both Aksyon and KMJS said the woman had gone to an albularyo which was when the “baby snake” was supposed to have been delivered. Towards the conclusion of the report, KMJS raised the possibility of the woman having undergone an abortion – which the family denied.

The last of the Balita-Serye reports also mentioned this possibility.

Predictably, the two stories could not go further on the hunch about an abortion. Which was all the more reason they should have left the story where it belonged. Certainly not in network news.

Twitter user Raquel Fortun (@Doc4Dead) tagged CMFR regarding the report.

@Doc4Dead @cmfr @GarryDeLeon Human interest really sells.

— Irma Riego (@FoutarCakes) February 22, 2016