Ex-Philippine VP targeted with fabricated quote on flights for overseas workers affected by Iran war
- Published on March 24, 2026 at 08:03
- 2 min read
- By Ara Eugenio, AFP Philippines
The Philippine presidential office rebuked Vice President Sara Duterte for saying repatriation flights for overseas Filipino workers in the Middle East affected by the ongoing war would be easy to arrange, but posts that claim to show her predecessor joining the president in criticising her share a fabricated quote. The graphic attached to the posts was made by an account that impersonates the Philippine broadcaster GMA News.
"Why would you send an aircraft? There are airspace restrictions and security risks due to the active conflict zones between Israel and Iran," reads a Tagalog-language quote card featuring an image of former vice president Leni Robredo -- now the mayor of Naga City -- shared on TikTok on March 11, 2026.
The graphic looks similar to those produced by Philippine media outlet GMA News, but bears a watermark reading "QNA News" in the top-left corner.
The TikTok post references Duterte's claim that repatriating overseas Filipino workers (OFW) affected by war in the Middle East "was not difficult", suggesting that the graphic shows Robredo's rebuttal to the vice president's remarks (archived link).
An estimated two million Filipinos are among the region's 35 million migrant workers, who are one of the most vulnerable groups during the conflict (archived here and here).
Duterte said her statement was based on her experience as Davao City mayor, when she chartered planes for residents stranded in Manila during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Her claim drew criticism from the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., which said it was not grounded in reality (archived link).
Since the beginning of the war in the Middle East -- triggered by joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran that killed its supreme leader -- the Philippine government has so far arranged four chartered flights to bring more than 300 OFWs home from the region (archived link). The effort involved hours of land travel to bypass airspace restrictions.
The supposed rebuttal from Robredo was also shared in similar Facebook posts.
However, there are no official reports about Robredo commenting on Duterte's statement about repatriation flights from the Middle East.
AFP found no record of the graphic on official online platforms of GMA News, which refuted its authenticity in a Facebook post (archived link).
"Warning: Fake news is circulating using a logo that mimics GMA Integrated News," it posted on March 18.
While the fabricated graphic mimics the layout of genuine GMA News quote cards, it lacks design elements including the correct logo, proper quotation marks and date formatting used by the broadcaster (archived link).
A review of the account "QNA News" found that its style appears to imitate that of the broadcaster and that it has a history of sharing fabricated quotes.
Philippine fact-checking organisations Vera Files and Rappler have also debunked the claim (archived here and here).
AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about the former Philippine vice president.
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