Days before the Philippines’ House of Representatives voted to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte, a misleadingly edited video was shared in social media posts that claimed it “exposed” how broadcaster ABS-CBN had exaggerated the size of protests calling for her impeachment. The video was edited to omit sections of the full report showing there was no contradiction in how many people the anchor and reporter featured in the news segment said had attended.
“ABIAS-CBN is exposed for spreading wrong information??” read a Facebook video’s Tagalog-language caption disparaging Philippine media giant ABS-CBN.
The video, shared on February 1, 2025, shows clips from the ABS-CBN news programme TV Patrol, with anchor Zen Hernandez saying in Tagalog: “Thousands flocked to various protests in different parts of Metro Manila today to call for the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte and raise other issues.”
The clip then cuts to journalist Vivienne Gulla doing a live report in which she says: “Almost 500 went to the mobilisation here at EDSA Shrine to call on Congress to take action on the several impeachment complaints filed against Sara Duterte.”
ABS-CBN previously ran afoul of Duterte’s father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, who warned of karmic repercussions for the broadcaster’s critical coverage of his deadly drug war (archived link).
The broadcaster was forced off air over a stalled operating licence renewal during his term in office, drawing fresh charges that authorities were cracking down on press freedom (archived link).
The video circulated after protests in Manila urging the Philippine House of Representatives to impeach Vice President Duterte before they adjourned ahead of May’s midterm elections (archived link).
Duterte was impeached by lawmakers on February 5 — the vote following the filing of a trio of complaints in December accusing her of crimes ranging from the “brazen misuse” of millions of dollars in public funds to plotting Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos’s assassination (archived link).
The 46-year-old vice president, who is estranged from Marcos but remains his constitutional successor in case he is unable to perform his duties, has denied the allegations.
Her fate now lies in the hands of the Philippines’ 24 senators, two-thirds of whom must vote for her impeachment to remove her from office and disqualify her from future public positions. A trial date has yet to be set.
Similar claims that ABS-CBN exaggerated the size of protests calling for Duterte’s impeachment were also shared on TikTok.
“Thousands? And then it turns out to be only 500?” read a comment on one of the posts. Another said: “Maybe the first reporter was paid higher because they said thousands. But the second reporter just said the protesters were only 500. Fix your news.”
The video, however, omits parts of the journalist’s report where she discussed larger rallies held on the same day.
Read the full story on AFP Fact Check.