Doctored clip of ex-president Duterte 'threatening to jail' Marcos ally circulates ahead of polls
- Published on October 28, 2024 at 10:01
- Updated on January 17, 2025 at 05:20
- 4 min read
- By Jan Cuyco, AFP Philippines
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The posts falsely claimed Duterte was filmed threatening senatorial candidate Ramon "Bong" Revilla.
The Philippine actor-turned-senator was acquitted of plunder in 2018 during Duterte's administration after being accused of siphoning 224 million Philippine pesos ($3.8 million) of public funds into fake projects (archived link).
He confirmed he would seek re-election under Marcos' administration slate in the May 2025 mid-term polls (archived links here and here).
Shortly before his candidacy was confirmed, a TikTok video viewed more than 800,000 times since it was shared on October 1, 2024 read "Former President Duterte and Senador Revilla moment," in a mix of English and Tagalog.
At the beginning of the clip, Revilla is shown speaking on a stage in front of an audience. He says in Tagalog, "It is only now that this is happening in the country. This kind of programme is felt by our countrymen. That's why we should give a round of applause to President Bongbong (Ferdinand Marcos) and Speaker Martin Romualdez".
It then cuts to Duterte speaking at a press conference in which he appears to ask Revilla to repeat his comments.
The former Philippine leader's voice can then be heard saying in Tagalog: "Later, I will put you back in jail".
Some of Duterte's allies have formalised their re-election bids, while the former president himself filed his candidacy to run for mayor of the southern city of Davao, his family's stronghold (archived links here and here).
His decision to run follows a very public falling out with the Marcos family as both attempt to shore up their rival support bases and secure key positions ahead of the mid-term elections next year and presidential polls in 2028 (archived link).
Other users reshared the clip alongside a similar claim on YouTube and TikTok.
But the video stitched together unrelated clips and audio to make the false claim.
Edited footage
A reverse image search followed by keyword searches on Google traced the first clip to a video published on the official YouTube account of the Philippines's House of Representatives on September 27, 2024 (archived link).
The video showed Revilla addressing a crowd at a live-streamed event for the New Philippines Service Fair in his bailiwick province of Cavite, south of the capital Manila.
The clip used in the edited video corresponds to the live stream's 16-minute 13-second mark.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the altered video (left) and the earlier YouTube video (right):
The second clip -- which appears to show Duterte walking away from a podium -- was taken from his 2016 press briefing at a Manila airport terminal before leaving for Vietnam.
The state-run RTVM published a similar video on YouTube on September 28, 2016 (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the circulating video (left) and the 2016 clip of Duterte (right):
Inserted audio
The video also inserted an old audio of Duterte saying "I will put you back in jail" in Tagalog to falsely suggest his remark was directed at Revilla.
AFP reviewed the audio used at the TikTok video's 21-second mark and found it was originally taken from footage by Philippine state broadcaster PTV (archived link).
The video, published on their verified YouTube account on April 19 2017, bore the Tagalog-language title: "President Rody Duterte's arrival at the launching of CineLokal".
At the 55-minute 44-second mark of his speech, Duterte joked he would send former president Joseph Estrada "back to jail".
Local media outlets ABS-CBN News and GMA News reported about Duterte's remarks on the same day (archived links here and here).
Estrada was ousted in a popular uprising in 2001 and later convicted of committing plunder while in office (archived link).
He was detained for more than six years during his trial before being pardoned and released.
Philippine fact-checking organisation PressOnePH also verified this claim (archived link).
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