Videos posted on YouTube and Facebook (FB) falsely claim that former president Rodrigo Duterte can now be released from detention in The Hague, Netherlands, following the alleged approval of his defense team’s request for an interim release to an undisclosed country.
Originally published on June 13, the inaccurate YouTube video bore the headline that read:
“MAKAKALAYA NA | FPRRD HUMINGI NA NG INTERIM RELEASE | SA IBANG BANSA ANG TULOY | NO OPPOSITION (TO BE RELEASED | FPRRD HAS REQUESTED INTERIM RELEASE | HE WILL PROCEED TO ANOTHER COUNTRY | NO OPPOSITION)
Its thumbnail also carried the text:
PROSECUTION HINDI TUMUTOL SA INTERIM RELEASE
SA WAKAS MAKAKALABAS NA SI FPRRD!
(PROSECUTION DID NOT OBJECT TO INTERIM RELEASE
FINALLY, FPRRD WILL BE FREE TO GO!)”
A portion of the almost 11-minute video, which was merely a political commentary on the interim release filed by Duterte’s camp, was also uploaded twice by an FB user on June 14, even claiming the International Criminal Court (ICC) has already approved the said request:
“It’s confirmed FPRRD makakalabas na sa ICC detention cell… (FPRRD will be released from the ICC detention cell…)
PROSECUTION YES sa interim release… (Prosecution says YES to interim release…)
GOOD NEWS TO ALL FPRRD SUPPORTERS AS OF JUNE 12, 2025 ICC APPROVE INTERIM RELEASE.”
This is false. Duterte remains detained at the ICC’s detention facility in Scheveningen on charges of crimes against humanity linked to his bloody drug war.
The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I has yet to rule on the Defense’s 16-page urgent request for interim release of the former president dated June 12.
Based on the request signed by Duterte’s lead counsel, Nicholas Kaufman, the Defense said that if granted interim release, the ex-president will “not abscond, not imperil proceedings, and not continue to commit crimes.”
It also argued that “humanitarian factors militate in favour of interim release,” noting Duterte’s age and other redacted information.
The request further stated that the government of an unnamed ICC member state has expressed its “advance and principled agreement to receive Mr. Duterte onto its territory for the term of his interim release.”
The Duterte camp also claimed in their request that “the Prosecution has confirmed its non-opposition to interim release.”
In its response to various local media outlets, the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC said it will file a response before the Pre-Trial Chamber I to “clearly set out its position” on the matter.
The videos with the false claim surfaced a day after the Defence had asked the ICC for Duterte’s temporary liberty.
Published by YouTube channel The Journalist’s Opinion (created on Oct. 23, 2015), the spurious video has so far garnered 124,241 views, 3,700 likes, and 994 comments. Meanwhile, the videos re-uploaded by FB page PAPA RIC VLOG (Aug. 29, 2019) have collectively received 347 interactions and 11,600 views as of writing.
