A YouTube clip is claiming that the International Criminal Court has granted former president Rodrigo Duterte interim release. This is false.
As of Oct. 3, the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I still had to decide on the request for interim release filed by Duterte’s legal team in June, the international tribunal’s website shows.
Published on Sept. 27, the video’s title read:
“Breaking News! FPRRD nabigyan na ng Interim Release (has been granted interim release) #duterte #fprrd #videoreaction”
A Facebook page republished the clip on the same day, carrying a superimposed text that said:
“TATAY DIGONG MAKAKALABAS NA CONFIRMED !! LEGIT NA LEGIT 100% UUWI NA SYA (Tatay Digong release confirmed!! 100% legit, he’s coming home)”
Two other FB users reposted the video on Sept. 27 and 28.
Duterte remains detained at the Scheveningen Prison in The Hague, Netherlands for alleged crimes against humanity involving extrajudicial killings during his war on drugs when he was Davao City mayor and president.
The vlogger who published the original YouTube clip did not provide proof or sources to support his claim.
The video merely cited a portion of what appeared to be an FB live of the vlogger, who goes by the handle Alvin and Tourism, and regularly posts updates on Duterte’s legal situation. In the clip, he is heard saying, “Sa mga Tagalog po nating mga kababayan, sana po ipagdasal niyo si PRRD at i-welcome niyo po siya sa pag-uwi niya.”
(To our fellow Tagalog-speaking countrymen, please pray for former president Duterte and welcome him on his return.)
The vlogger further alleged that the Philippine government has no objection to Duterte’s release from detention. Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro has since clarified this claim.
PH’s position on Duterte’s release
In a redacted document dated Sept. 26, Duterte’s lead counsel, Nicholas Kaufman, notified the pre-trial chamber that the possibility of an interim release is “now contemplated without objection by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines which surrendered Mr. Duterte to the [ICC].”
The spurious videos emerged a day after Kaufman filed the notification.
Kaufman issued the statement based on Castro’s remark at a Sept. 24 press briefing, commenting on Vice President Sara Duterte’s statement that a third country has agreed to host her father should his request for interim release be granted.
“Nagbunga naman po yata ang madalas niyang pagbibiyahe. So, kung iyan ay good news po sa kanila at kung ano po ang magiging desisyon ng ICC, tatanggapin naman po iyan ng pamahalaang Marcos Jr.,” Castro said.
(Her constant travels have borne fruit. So, if this is good news for them and whatever the decision of the ICC, the Marcos Jr. government will accept it.)
However, Castro called out Kaufman for “twisting some facts,” emphasizing that the Marcos Jr. administration is “not privy and has no hand” in Duterte’s ongoing proceedings in the ICC, particularly his request for interim release.
Castro, nevertheless, said that “no matter what the ICC decides, the administration would still respect it.”
The spurious videos emerged a day after Kaufman filed the notification with the ICC claiming the supposed agreement of the Philippine government to Duterte’s interim release.
While the original video published by YouTube channel Bonster Demi Chef Vlog (created Feb. 13, 2014) did not receive significant engagement, the reposted clips on FB, including the one re-uploaded by page Teamhilas – Koreanang HILAS (created July 17, 2023), have collectively garnered 56,000 reactions, 5,396 comments and 5,829 shares. They have been viewed over 1.4 million times.
