Edited video falsely claims VP Duterte sworn in as Philippine president
- Published on August 11, 2026 at 10:07
- 2 min read
- By Tatiana MALIGRO, AFP Philippines
Sara Duterte has not been sworn in as the Philippines' new president, contrary to TikTok videos claiming to show her taking the presidential oath of office. The posts -- which circulated as Duterte's impeachment trial reached its third week -- manipulated footage from Duterte's vice presidential inauguration in 2022. Official records show Ferdinand Marcos remains the country's president.
"Thanks God, Sarah Duterte is president now," reads a Tagalog-language text overlaid on a TikTok video uploaded on July 27, 2026.
The footage supposedly shows Duterte taking an oath of office as Philippine president before Supreme Court Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando.
The video circulated amid Duterte's ongoing impeachment trial, where she is facing accusations of misusing government funds, unexplained wealth, bribery and making threats against President Marcos (archived link).
A guilty verdict would see Duterte barred from politics, throwing a wrench into her potential 2028 presidential run (archived link).
Despite the trial, the daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte still enjoys public support, with a May survey showing her as the 2028 front-runner and 49 percent of respondents saying they planned to vote for her (archived link).
Similar clips also circulated on TikTok, with some comments suggesting users believed the video was genuine.
"Congratulations idol," one commenter wrote, while another said: "Long live the Philippines. Congrats President Sara Duterte, god bless you all."
But the footage was edited to make it appear as though Duterte was being sworn in as president.
A reverse image search of the video’s keyframes traced the original clip to Duterte’s inauguration as vice president in 2022, which was uploaded to her official YouTube channel (archived link).
The circulating clip matches the 2:18 mark of the YouTube video, where Duterte can be heard saying: "I, Sara Zimmerman Duterte, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully and conscientiously fulfil my duties as vice president of the Philippines."
However, the circulating clip removes the mention of "vice" and crops out a chyron identifying the event as Duterte's vice presidential inauguration.
The Philippine Constitution states that the vice president can only become the country's chief executive if the president dies, resigns, is permanently disabled, or removed from office (archived link).
Official records show Marcos remains the president (archived link).
AFP has previously fact-checked other claims linked to the Philippine vice president.
The clip was also debunked by fact-checking organisation Vera Files (archived link).
Copyright © AFP 2017-2026. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
