A YouTube channel is deceiving viewers with videos offering no evidence to support its claims that the crimes against humanity and impeachment cases faced by former president Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Sara, respectively, have been junked. These claims are false.
As of June 10, the case of the older Duterte before the International Criminal Court and the impeachment trial of his daughter before the Philippine Senate remain active.
In the first video, published on June 2, a headline is displayed at the bottom for over seven minutes:
“VP SARA MAY MALAKING GOODNEWS! FPRRD CASE SA ICC BINASURA NA? (Big good news from VP Sara! FPRRD’s ICC case has been junked?)”
Its title also states:
“GOODNEWS? FPRRD CASE BINASURA NASA ICC? TATAY DIGONG MAKAKALAYA NA? KINUMPIRMA UMANO ITO NI VP SARA? (Good news? FPRRD’s ICC case dismissed? Will Tatay Digong be freed? VP Sara allegedly confirmed it?)”
Despite framing the claims as questions, the YouTube channel used clickbait phrases in its thumbnail – including “Thank you, ICC!” “finally!” “FPRRD has won!” and even tagged it as “breaking news” — increasing the likelihood of misleading viewers.
The second video, uploaded also on June 2, shows a headline throughout its 39-minute duration:
“CONFIRMED? VP SARA IMPEACHMENT BINASURA NASA SENADO! (VP Sara’s impeachment case has been dismissed by the Senate!)”
Similar to the previous video, attention-grabbing lines like “breaking news!” “confirmed!” “good news!” are also employed, while targeting the other camp. It further alleges that the lead prosecutor of the House of Representatives, Rep. Gerville Luistro, is afraid of the supposed dismissal of the impeachment case.
VP Sara has not made any announcement about the dismissal of her father’s case, keyword searches show. Neither has the ICC nor the impeachment court issued a statement dismissing the cases and there have been no such reports on mainstream media either.
Aside from the use of clickbait and sensational language, both videos feature only commentaries from vloggers with no concrete evidence.
Dutertes’ cases moving forward
The prosecution and the defense teams in the erstwhile president’s ICC case have proposed several amendments on the conduct of proceedings. The Trial Chamber III has scheduled the opening of the trial on Nov. 30.
In the impeachment court, Sen. Erwin Tulfo said in a May 21 television interview that VP Sara’a trial will begin on July 6.
On June 8, the House impeachment secretariat received notice, signed by acting Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian as presiding officer of the impeachment court, directing the vice president and public prosecutors to attend the pre-trial conference on June 18. Among the matters to be resolved by the parties are the stipulation of facts and simplification of issues; number and identification of witnesses; and setting of trial dates.
The spurious videos emerged as the corresponding local and international trials of the Dutertes loom.
Posted by YouTube channel NEWS UPDATE FILES (created Jan. 31, 2022), the inaccurate videos collectively garnered 5,100 reactions; 526 comments and 46,843 views as of writing. Other netizens cross-posted the links to the clips on FB.
