Baseless 'impeachment vote' claims target Philippine Senate hopeful
- Published on May 13, 2025 at 11:19
- 3 min read
- By Jan Cuyco, AFP Philippines
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"When I win, I will vote to impeach Sara Duterte," reads a graphic shared May 6 on Facebook which suggests Pangilinan made the remarks one day prior.
The image includes social media handles for iMPACT Leadership, a youth-focused organisation in the Philippines (archived link).
The image also surfaced elsewhere on Facebook as the Philippines headed to vote in a mid-term election largely defined by the explosive feud between President Ferdinand Marcos and impeached Vice President Sara Duterte (archived link).
The 12 senators chosen will form half the jury in Duterte's trial -- tentatively set for July -- that could see her permanently barred from public office.
With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Pangilinan appeared poised to make a comeback ranked fifth, an initial tally from the poll body Comelec released by local media showed as of May 13 (archived link).
But there have been no official reports of him announcing he would support Duterte's conviction and a representative for Pangilinan's camp told AFP on May 8 he "made no such remark".
In an earlier press conference in March, he was asked about the case and responded: "We will just have to look at the evidence. I'm a lawyer. We will have to look at whether or not there is a case. And then we will decide impartially" (archived link).
A reverse image search on Google found Pangilinan's picture in an article from online media outlet Rappler that stated it was captured during a campaign rally on February 11 (archived link).
A review of his full speech found he made no such remarks as the false posts alleged although he briefly alluded to Marcos and Duterte's dispute (archived link).
"While all of this is happening, our countrymen are complaining about low wages, inflation and unaffordable costs of medicine," he said.
The organisation iMPACT Leadership separately denied it created the image in a statement posted on Facebook May 6 (archived link).
AFP has fact-checked other falsehoods related to the 2025 mid-term elections.
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