Weeks after former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte was transferred to the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC), his supporters shared a clip falsely claiming it shows a news report that he had been released. The video is from 2022, and the 80-year-old ex-leader remains detained in The Hague.
“Rodrigo Roa Duterte arrived today from the Netherlands,” reads Tagalog-language text overlaid on an April 2 Facebook reel.
The video shows a news report from broadcaster GMA News where anchor Mel Tiangco is heard saying: “On former president Rodrigo Duterte’s return home to Davao city, a special homecoming concert has been prepared for him.” (archived link)
“Happy to have you back, Father Digong,” the post’s caption says, using Duterte’s popular nickname among his supporters.
The former president was arrested on March 11 and swiftly bundled onto a plane to the ICC in The Hague (archived link).
He faces a charge of crimes against humanity over his anti-narcotics campaign that claimed the lives of thousands of mostly poor men, often without proof they were linked to drugs.
His lead lawyer Nicholas Kaufman told AFP in an interview that he hoped to stop the case before the tribunal confirms the charges against Duterte by arguing the court cannot exercise its jurisdiction (archived link).
A confirmation of charges hearing, where the prosecutor and defence will first lay out their evidence, is currently scheduled for September 23.
Kaufman did not say anything about his client being released.
The GMA News report was also falsely presented as recent on Facebook, TikTok and Instagram, but the Philippine fact-checking organisation Vera Files had earlier debunked similar posts (archived link).
Read the full story on AFP Fact Check.