TikTok posts recycle old news on Trump inviting ex-Philippine president to White House

"How come the current president was not invited?" read the caption of a TikTok post from November 9 that racked up 1.2 million views. 

It showed two newspaper headlines that read: "Donald Trump invites Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to White House" and "The story behind Donald Trump and Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte's populist bromance".

Text at the bottom of the video claimed Trump invited the ex-president to his inauguration on January 20, 2025. 

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Screenshot of the false TikTok post taken on November 14, 2024

The Duterte and Marcos families have been locked in a bitter feud ahead of the mid-term elections in 2025 and presidential polls in 2028 (archived link).

Duterte had accused Marcos of being a "drug addict", with the president hitting back and claiming his predecessor's health was failing due to long-term use of the powerful opioid fentanyl.

Neither provided evidence of their allegations.

Comments on the post -- which spread across TikTok here and here and also Facebook --  appear to show Duterte's supporters believing the claim.

"What a big insult to the current president! Long live our beloved [Duterte], a one-of-a-kind leader," one wrote.

"I think they're best friends," said another. 

However, the headlines shared in the social media posts were published long before Trump's victory in the 2024 US presidential election.

Old headlines

An online search for the news headlines revealed that both articles were published in 2017. 

"The story behind Donald Trump and Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte's populist bromance," was published by Quartz on May 2, 2017 (archived link).

"Donald Trump invites Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to White House" was taken from a Straits Times article from April 30, 2017. The false social media posts altered the headline, erasing the words "in phone call" at the end (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the headlines in the false posts (left) and the original (centre, right), with the publishing date and omitted words highlighted:

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Screenshot comparison of the headlines in the false posts (left) and the original (centre, right), with the publishing date and omitted words highlighted

The reports detailed the relations between Trump and Duterte after the White House issued a statement on April 29, 2017 on a "friendly conversation" between the two leaders (archived links here and here). 

"President Trump also invited President Duterte to the White House to discuss the importance of the United States-Philippines alliance, which is now heading in a very positive direction," the last part of the statement read. 

Despite Trump's invitation, Duterte did not visit the White House during his term and vowed never to set foot in "lousy" America (archived link). 

Furthermore, AFP found no reports about Philippine officials being invited to Trump's inauguration, as of November 16. 

Local news outlet GMA News Online quoted the Philippine ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez on November 7 as saying: "We don't know if Trump's transition team will be inviting foreign leaders to the inauguration" (archived link).

Serving Philippine presidents have not typically attended US presidential inaugurations in the past (archived link).