Philippine lawmaker hit with edited 'drug lord admission' video

"So now, I am a drug lord," Barbers says in the video, which racked up 69,000 views in one Facebook post from December 6.

Speaking in a mix of English and Tagalog, the lawmaker says: "It's not only me. I am not the only one comprising this quad comm."

"Quad comm" refers to a House of Representatives mega-panel investigating extra judicial killings under the Duterte administration.

During the anti-drug campaign he launched shortly after taking office in 2016, Duterte ordered police to shoot dead suspects if officers believed their lives were in danger (archived link).

While the crackdown has been widely condemned and sparked an international investigation, only nine police officers have been convicted for killing drug suspects. 

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken December 11, 2024

The ex-president told a separate Senate inquiry in October that he "offered no apologies and no excuses" for the crackdown, which police said left more than 6,000 people dead. 

Human rights groups, however, estimate tens of thousands of mostly poor men were killed by officers and vigilantes, often without proof they were linked to drugs. 

"I've been fighting this drug war for several decades since I became a politician in 1995 until now this year," Barbers adds in the video.

Tagalog overlaid text on the video says Barbers has been named as a "drug lord in a new watchlist".

The edited video -- earlier fact-checked by Philippine news organisation Rappler -- was shared by Facebook users that regularly post pro-Duterte content (archived link).

Some social media users in the comments section appear to believe the clip was genuine.

"It's really true," one comment read, apparently referring to online rumours associating Barbers to illegal drug activities.

"There, he admitted. It came straight from his own mouth," another wrote.

Edited video

A combination of Google keyword searches and reverse image searches found the misleading remarks were lifted from November 19 deliberations of the House committee on public order and safety -- which makes up one of four House committees forming the quad comm.

The original video was streamed by the House of Representatives' verified YouTube channel (archived link). 

During the inquiry, lawmakers probed police officers who faced legal cases from their anti-drug operations during Duterte's administration.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the false clip (left) and the House of Representatives' video (right): 

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Screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the House of Representatives' video (right)

At the 2:21:20 mark of the video, Barbers appeared to laugh off online rumours connecting him to the illegal drug trade (archived link).

That part of the video was cropped and presented out of context to make it look like Barbers telling lawmakers he was a "drug lord".

In the full video, Barbers says: "I'm sure many of us here have become subject of tirades or fake news on social media. In my case, I've been an anti-illegal drug advocate, but now I am now considered as a drug lord. It's not only me. It's not only me. I am not the only one comprising this quad comm."

"So now, I am a drug lord. I've been fighting this drug war for several decades since I became a politician in 1995 until now, I am an anti-illegal drug advocate. Now, it's just now, this year, that I've been considered a high value target."

Philippine news media Inquirer.net also reported Barbers' remarks laughing off the drug lord rumours (archived link).