A TikTok video is claiming that Sen. Risa Hontiveros walked out of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on the previous administration’s drug war after a heated exchange with ex- president Rodrigo Duterte. This is false.
The video started with a narrator talking about Hontiveros’ alleged walkout during the Oct. 28 hearing while showing photos of the senator and Duterte in a tense exchange over the drug war killings. The post carried this superimposed caption:
“Nag walk out pala c Risa Hontiveroz sa ginawa ni President Duterte pahiya ka risa noh.”
(So, Risa Hontiveros walked out because of what President Duterte did. You were embarrassed, Risa, huh?)”
It also had a spliced shot of an empty seat to indicate the senator had left the session room.
During their exchange at the hearing, Duterte fumed over Hontiveros’ questions about his drug war killings but later said that his demeanor towards the senator was nothing personal.
Hontiveros decided to cut short her questioning saying it was causing discomfort on the part of Duterte. She gave her final statement more than an hour before the session was adjourned, based on the livestream of the official channel of the Senate of the Philippines,
“As a final word, I hope and I imagine the Department of Justice is watching because there were a lot of admissions from the former president involving criminal acts. History will judge,” she said in a mix of Filipino and English.
In response, the former president said: “Nagtataka ako ang justice department hanggang ngayon hindi pa mag-file ng kaso hanggang ngayon. Katagal na ‘kong pumapatay ng tao hanggang ngayon hindi pa rin sila nag-file ng kaso?”
(I am wondering why the justice department until now has not filed a case against me. I have long been killing people, but they still have not filed a case?)
Early on, Duterte was peeved when Hontiveros announced she was down to her final two questions, saying he did not travel all the way from Davao just to answer a few questions about his administration’s drug war, adding he would stay until he has answered all queries.
As of writing, the TikTok video posted on Oct. 30 by @sophiexexievlog, an account with 16.5k followers, has gained 330k views, 10.7k likes, 895 comments, and 1,022 shares.
