Supporters of former Philippine president Duterte share altered image of fierce critic 'wetting himself'

The image, appearing to show Trillanes with a stain on the front of his trousers as he is led away by police, was shared more than 7,600 times after it was posted on Facebook on November 14, 2024.

"He was so brave last night! He forgot about this scene that's all over social media," reads part of the overlaid Tagalog-language text. "Turns out, he peed himself out of fear?"

The post, which was shared shared over 7,600 times, surfaced a day after Trillanes -- one of Duterte's most vocal critics -- testified at a House of Representatives probe into the former president's deadly war on drugs and accused him of having links to the illegal drugs trade (archived link).

The hearing was briefly suspended after Duterte threatened to slap Trillanes and attempted to throw his microphone at the former senator (archived link).

Duterte has remained defiant throughout congressional probes into his deadly crackdown, which killed more than 6,000 people according to official data, though the International Criminal Court estimates the death toll at between 12,000 and 30,000 (archived links here and here). 

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Screenshot of false Facebook post, captured on November 27, 2024

The image was also shared here, here and here.

Comments on the posts suggest Duterte's supporters believed it showed Trillanes -- who was jailed for helping to lead two brief coup attempts against then-president Gloria Arroyo 2003 and 2007 -- had wet himself when he was arrested (archived link).

"That's the brave one who staged a coup. He wet himself when he got caught," one user said.

Another wrote: "Duterte is right, he is a coward. He even peed his trousers."

The image, however, has been altered.

Manila hotel siege

Keyword searches found the original photo was posted on Facebook by photographer Ver Noveno on September 4, 2018 (archived link).

The caption read: "I took this photo last 11-29-2007 during Manila Pen Siege Sen. Trillanes being taken by Gen Barias.vernovenoimages."

At the time, Trillanes was a navy lieutenant who had been elected as a senator while still on trial for a failed 2003 coup against Arroyo.

He and his fellow renegade soldiers seized the luxurious Peninsula Hotel in Manila's financial district demanding that Arroyo step down (archived link). 

The standoff resulted in a flurry of gunfire and tear gas between the group and government troops, culminating in their dramatic surrender that was televised worldwide.

Noveno sent AFP a copy of the photo, and said it was captured for Philippine English-language daily newspaper People's Journal (archived link).

"The photo I took shows he did not pee his trousers," he said on November 26.

A video from The Associated Press's archives shows the photo on the front page of the People's Journal, published on the day after the siege (archived link). 

A similar shot of Trillanes shared by The Philippine Star also shows his trousers were dry (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison between the edited image (left) and the photo taken by Noveno (right):

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Screenshot comparison between the edited image (left) and the photo taken by Noveno (right)

The altered photo was also debunked by Philippine fact-checking organisation Vera Files (archived link).