Old clip of Duterte at political event sparks false 'acquittal' claims

Published on April 2, 2025 at 07:44
3 min read
By Tommy WANG, Lucille SODIPE, AFP Hong Kong, AFP Philippines

The International Criminal Court (ICC) did not declare the Philippines' former president Rodrigo Duterte to be innocent in March, contrary to online posts that misrepresented his old campaign clip. The 80-year-old remains in the custody of the tribunal in The Hague as he awaits his next court hearing for a crimes against humanity charge scheduled in September.

"Rodrigo Duterte was acquitted by the international court," reads the simplified Chinese caption to a TikTok video shared March 16, 2025.

"Duterte went home!" further claims text overlaid to the clip.

Screenshot of the false TikTok post, captured on March 31, 2025

Similar posts also spread on TikTok's Chinese version Douyin.

Screenshot of the false Douyin post, captured on March 31, 2025

Duterte was arrested and swiftly transferred to The Hague on March 11 to face a crimes against humanity charge stemming from his deadly war on drugs that rights groups estimate killed tens of thousands (archived link).

His detention sparked a wave of misinformation not just in the Philippines but also among Chinese social media users. His tenure was marked by a swing away from the United States in favour of China.

Duterte failed to attend in person the ICC's initial hearing on March 14 and followed the proceedings via videolink (archived link).

There have been no official reports that he had been released, with the UN-backed tribunal setting the next hearing on September 23 (archived link).

Nicholas Kaufman, Duterte's lead lawyer, told AFP in an interview that he was visiting his client virtually every day in the ICC detention centre and Duterte was in "good spirits" and "adjusting to the reality of prison life" (archived link).

The video shared in the posts was filmed before his arrest.

A reverse image search on Google and a subsequent keyword search on TikTok found a video uploaded March 1 showing a similar scene (archived link).

Duterte is seen wearing a brown jacket and a red shirt in the clip, the same clothes he has on in the false video. Two men are also shown following him wearing blue and red shirts in both videos.

Screenshot comparison between the falsely shared video (L) and the TikTok post before Duterte's arrest

The men can also be seen in footage uploaded March 6, 2025 on the YouTube page of Duterte's local political party. Its caption says it shows the "Hugpong Youth Convention 2025" (archived link).

Screenshots from the YouTube clip showing Duterte attending the youth convention

Broadcaster ABS-CBN News reported the "Hugpong Youth Summit" was held February 28 in Duterte's hometown city Davao in the country's south. The report said the event was part of the party's campaign for its senatorial bets in the upcoming midterm elections (archived link).

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