Spliced footage of Duterte-backed politician sparks turncoat claims

"Vic Rodriguez has defected, a former ally is now angry with the Dutertes," a narrator says in the video shared May 10, 2025 on Instagram.

It appears to show lawyer Victor Rodriguez saying: "Let us also look for the billions of pesos Vice President Sara Duterte plundered from government funds.

"Because you heard it from me and I'll say it again. Vice President Sara Duterte will be impeached and removed from office."

Tagalog-language text overlaid to the clip goes on to claim he said the vice president should be jailed.

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Screenshot of altered video taken on May 26, 2025

Rodriguez, a former executive secretary to President Ferdinand Marcos, unsuccessfully ran for senator in the mid-term vote largely defined by the explosive feud between the archipelago's two highest officials.

The vice president was impeached by the House of Representatives in February for "high crimes" including corruption and an alleged assassination plot against Marcos.

Duterte's impeachment trial was a key talking point in the election which decided half the 24 senators who will serve as her jury (archived link).

She needs nine votes for an acquittal. Losing would mean her removal and a permanent ban from public office but not imprisonment (archived link).

Rodriguez threw his support behind Duterte after exiting the Marcos government less than three months into the new presidency in 2022 (archived link).

Former president Rodrigo Duterte and daughter Sara both backed Rodriguez's failed Senate bid (archived here and here). 

The manipulated video first spread on TikTok in November 2024. It has been re-shared sporadically since, including on Facebook as a political advert in February.

Philippine fact-checking organisation Vera Files has earlier debunked the posts. 

Keyword searches on Google found the original footage of Rodriguez, posted on his TikTok account on November 25, 2024, had the overlaid text "Protect VP Sara Duterte!" at the beginning of the video (archived link).

This footage contained statements edited out in the circulating clip.

"Let us also look for the billions of pesos plundered by the government, in particular, the over 500-billion-peso flood-control funds," Rodriguez can be heard saying.

The statement appears to refer to a proposal for 10 infrastructure projects to manage flooding across the archipelago, written in a government document released after Marcos's State of the Nation Address in July 2024 (archived link). 

Rodriguez can also be heard saying, "Let us also protect Vice President Sara Duterte. Because you heard it from me and I'll say it again. They will impeach Vice President Sara Duterte and remove her from office."

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Screenshot comparison of the spliced footage (left) and the original clip (right)

In social media posts published on his Facebook and TikTok accounts in January and February, Rodriguez reiterated his "staunch support" for the Dutertes and labelled the clips as "fake" (archived here and here).

"An edited video is circulating published by a troll account to share false information," his statement on January 27 read. "Don't believe this."

AFP has debunked more misinformation on the election here.