Posts falsely claim Philippine police faked ICC document to detain ex-leader

Published on March 20, 2025 at 10:35
3 min read
By Jan Cuyco, AFP Philippines

In the immediate aftermath of ex-Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte's arrest on a charge of crimes against humanity, clips were shared in social media posts that falsely claimed the country's police had faked an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant to detain the former leader. The ICC later confirmed they had issued a warrant for Duterte's arrest, and published the document the false posts claimed was "doctored" on their website.

"What's this? They doctored the ICC warrant of arrest?" reads superimposed Tagalog-language text on a Facebook reel shared on March 11, 2025.

The video claims the warrant was doctored by copying judges' signatures from an earlier ICC document.

The claim was shared hours after Duterte was arrested at Manila's international airport and sent to The Hague to face charges stemming from his years-long campaign against drugs that rights groups say killed tens of thousands (archived link).

The Philippines' presidential palace said the prosecutor general had acted after Interpol Manila received a copy of the ICC warrant. The document was not immediately made publicly available, but a copy of the warrant -- also obtained by AFP journalists in Manila -- was circulating online.

"Is this the reason why Torre only read the warrant on his phone," reads more superimposed text on the Facebook video, referring to Major General Nicolas Torre, head of the Philippine National Police's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, who oversaw Duterte's arrest (archived link).

Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on March 20, 2025

Similar posts were shared elsewhere on TikTok and Facebook.

The posts reflect assertions from Duterte's daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, his supporters, and his legal team about the legitimacy of the former president's arrest (archived here and here).

"This is not justice -- this is oppression and persecution," said the vice president, adding that her father had been unable to assert his rights before local judicial authorities.

His lawyer also told the court his client had been "abducted from his country".

"He was summarily transported to The Hague. To lawyers it's extrajudicial rendition. For less legal minds it's pure and simple kidnapping," the lawyer added.

But the document that prompted Duterte's arrest was an authentic ICC warrant.

Hours after Duterte's arrest, the ICC confirmed it had issued a warrant for the former president, and the document was also released publicly on their website a day later (archived here and here).

"The warrant of arrest against Mr Duterte was issued by the Chamber as 'Secret' on 7 March 2025 and reclassified as 'Public' on 11 March 2025," the ICC said (archived link).

The judges who signed off on the warrant, Iulia Motoc, Reine Alapini-Gansou and Socorro Flores Liera, comprise the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber I along with two other judges (archived link).

A check on the judges' profiles on the ICC website shows they handle several concurrent cases (archived here, here and here).

The signatures on the document that circulated online match those on the warrant that was later released by the ICC.

AFP has debunked other false claims that have spread since Duterte's arrest here and here.

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