Philippine officials are facing scrutiny over their decision to hand ex-leader Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court (ICC) but a picture of First Lady Liza Marcos is not proof there was a conspiracy over the arrest. Duterte’s supporters claim the photo shows Marcos meeting two ICC judges but have actually misidentified the two women with her.
“The two ICC judges in PDUTERTE’s case were seen attended (sic) the dinner party of the Philippines’ First Lady in waldorf hotel, Beverly Hills on March 7, 2025,” reads a Facebook post on March 15, 2025. “There’s really a conspiracy between the ICC and the Marcoses!”
The post features a collage of ICC judges Iulia Motoc, Reine Alapini-Gansou and Socorro Flores Liera — who ordered Duterte’s arrest — on top of a picture of Philippine First Lady Liza Marcos at a dinner table with two women (archived link).
It spread across X, Facebook and YouTube as misinformation flooded social media on Duterte’s arrest for a crimes against humanity charge over his brutal drug crackdown in which thousands were killed.
Victims’ families have welcomed the ICC proceedings as a chance for justice while Duterte supporters believe he was sent to The Hague amid a spectacular fall-out with the family of his once-ally President Ferdinand Marcos.
Philippine senators on March 20 grilled government officials over their decision to hand the former president to the ICC, with the country’s justice minister denying coordinating the arrest ahead of time (archived link).
The Philippine government had steadfastly repeated its refusal to cooperate with ICC investigators, citing their lack of jurisdiction since Duterte pulled the country out of the international body in 2019.
But that changed with recent statements from government officials that they would be obligated to act if they received a request to do so from Interpol.
Comments on the posts indicate people believed the picture shows Liza Marcos dining with two ICC judges.
“Those judges would’ve been paid off by ‘Lizatanas,'” one wrote combining the first lady’s name with the Tagalog word for satan. Another said: “Ooh, you’ve been found out Madame!”
AFP has not found official reports that Marcos met with ICC judges days before Duterte’s arrest and the women with her in the photo have been misidentified.
A search on Liza Marcos’s verified Facebook page surfaced the original photo which identified the woman on her right as Evie Evangelou and to her left as Gina Diez Barroso (archived link).
The caption says it was taken during the First Ladies’ Luncheon held on September 20, 2022 in New York City.
Read the full story on AFP Fact Check.