Online users claim that former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo junked the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte after the former was named new speaker of the House of Representatives. These are false.
First uploaded on March 20 by a YouTube channel notorious for peddling disinformation online, the video bore a title that reads:
“BIG GOODNEWS BUMALIKTAD LAHAT sa KAMARA NAGMOTION na SPEAKER ARROYO VPSARA SANIB TINAP0S ang PALASY0
(Big good news! Everyone in the House has switched sides and filed a motion. Speaker Arroyo and VP Sara have joined forces and finished off the Palace)”
Its thumbnail featured a photo of Arroyo standing at the rostrum of the House alongside other lawmakers. A superimposed text states:
“NEW SPEAKER ARROYO KONGRESO NAGMOTION NA! KAMARA NABALIKTAD NA GLORIA BINASURA AGAD ANG IMPEACHMENT
(New Speaker Arroyo, Congress has filed a motion! The House has turned around, and Gloria immediately junked the impeachment)”
From March 20 to 23, several Facebook pages published graphics carrying different photos of the vice president along with the video’s thumbnail. One user reposted a copy multiple times on various pro-Duterte groups.
The claims about the change in the speakership and the impeachment are not true. Faustino “Bojie” Dy remains speaker of the Lower House of Congress and Arroyo is representative of Pampanga’s second district, the legislative chamber’s website shows.
The impeachment complaints against Duterte have not been dismissed. In fact, the House Committee on Justice began its first impeachment hearing on March 25 after ruling that the two complaints were sufficient in form, substance and grounds.
A reverse image search shows that Arroyo’s photo used in the thumbnail was originally taken on July 23, 2018 by Rouelle Umali when the former president was elected as House speaker.
The March 20 YouTube video merely excerpts a March 17 vlog from another channel discussing Duterte and Arroyo’s attendance at a March 14 Office of the Vice President pop-up exhibit and coffee table book signing in Davao City. Nowhere in the video did the vlogger mention that Arroyo, as a supposed new House speaker, dismissed the impeachment complaints against Duterte.
Meanwhile, the FB posts did not cite a credible source substantiating their claims. Some pages included links to alleged articles from unverified websites in their comment sections.
VP Sara skips first impeachment hearing
The false claims emerged two days after the House Committee on Justice chair and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro bared the full schedule for the hearing proper, which started on March 25.
Duterte skipped the first impeachment hearing, noting in a letter submitted by her counsel to the panel that “considering the public statements made by the chairperson, it appears that the Committee intends to conduct a trial.”
Luistro previously described the impeachment “hearing proper” as a “mini trial.” In a press conference after the March 25 hearing, she stood by her use of the term, stating that “the intention only in using that terminology is to make it better understandable on the part of the viewing public.”
Originally published by YouTube channel PINAS NEWS INSIDER (created on Dec. 26, 2015), the video with untrue claims garnered 11,000 reactions; 654 comments and 155,218 views as of writing. Other copies on FB—including posts by StarTalk Pinoy (Nov. 6, 2025), The Star Bulletin PH (Nov. 6, 2025) and Cosmic Whirlwind (Oct. 25, 2024), which are run by people based in countries like Vietnam and the United States, have collectively amassed 35,187 reactions; 6,889 comments; and 1,731 shares.
