Posts fabricate 'ambush attempt' on Philippine senator investigating corruption scandal
- Published on October 30, 2025 at 07:30
- 2 min read
- By Jan Cuyco, AFP Philippines
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As Philippine lawmakers were set to resume their probe into alleged corruption involving so-called ghost infrastructure projects, a graphic was shared in posts falsely claiming one senator investigating the scandal was targeted by gunmen in an attempted ambush. There have been no official reports of Senator Rodante Marcoleta being the victim of an attempted ambush, and the circulating graphic uses a photo of an ambush on a military vehicle in November 2024.
The graphic shared on TikTok on October 26, 2025 features an image of Senator Rodante Marcoleta in the foreground over a photo of police and soldiers standing by a military vehicle.
Tagalog-language text overlaid across the graphic reads, "Authorities now have the video of the ambush on Senator Marcoleta".
"The motherland's senator, we hope you're safe Senator Marcoleta," adds the graphic's caption.
It circulated as the Philippine Senate was set to resume its investigation into a ballooning corruption scandal that has seen whistleblowers implicate dozens of lawmakers and government officials (archived here and here).
Greenpeace estimates some $17.6 billion in funds may have been bilked from climate-related projects since 2023, much of it meant for communities that are slowly sinking due to groundwater over-extraction and rising sea levels (archived link).
During a meeting of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on September 25, Marcoleta presented a surprise witness who claimed he delivered suitcases of cash to then-house speaker Martin Romualdez (archived here and here).
The graphic was also shared elsewhere on similar TikTok, Facebook and X posts.
But there have been no official reports of Marcoleta being targeted by an attempted ambush.
Basilan ambush
A reverse image search on Google found the photo of police and soldiers in the falsely shared graphic was used in a GMA News report from November 20, 2024 (archived link).
The report says two soldiers were wounded after armed men shot at their military truck as they were passing through Tipo-Tipo in the southern province of Basilan.
Efren Yunting Mamac, the GMA Regional TV reporter who wrote the article, told AFP on October 29, 2025 that the photo shows the aftermath of the ambush.
There is no mention of Marcoleta or any other senator in the report.
The claim Marcoleta was a victim of an attempted ambush was also highlighted in a post shared on his verified Facebook page on October 26 (archived link).
The post reads in part: "Along with the announcement of the possibility of resuming the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on November 14, 2025, various types of fake news and black propaganda against Senator Rodante Marcoleta have spread on social media."
AFP has previously debunked other misinformation about the flood control projects scandal.
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