Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has not made any public appearances since his arrest and transfer to The Hague, where he remained in detention as of March 19, 2025. False posts claiming he was seen greeting his supporters in the Netherlands misrepresent footage from an earlier visit to Hong Kong.
“Update on Duterte. He is so happy to see his supporters in The Netherlands, before he was taken to the hospital,” reads the caption and text over a TikTok video shared March 13.
The clip, which garnered more than 250,000 views, appears to show Duterte looking out of a window and waving at a crowd gathered on the street below.
Several other pro-Duterte TikTok users reshared the video alongside similar claims.
Duterte was arrested at the Manila airport on March 11 after a brief trip to Hong Kong. He was quickly flown to the Netherlands just hours later and turned over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) (archived link).
The 79-year-old, the first Asian former head of state charged by the ICC, stands accused of the crime against humanity of murder for his years-long campaign against drug users and dealers that rights groups have said killed thousands.
He failed to attend an initial hearing at the ICC in person and spoke briefly through a videolink to confirm his name and date of birth. The tribunal has set the next hearing to confirm his charges on September 23 (archived link).
AFP could find no official reports that Duterte has engaged with his supporters while detained in The Hague — and the circulating video was taken in Hong Kong the weekend before his arrest.
Read the full story on AFP Fact Check.