A photo of First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos with two women is circulating on social media, falsely claiming she has close ties with two judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Uploaded on March 15, the Facebook (FB) reel showed a photo of Araneta-Marcos and two women juxtaposed with photos of ICC judges Iulia Motoc and Socorro Flores. It was accompanied by a text saying:
“Bago INARESTO SI FPRRD ITO MUNA MGA JUDGE ng ICC NAKIPARTY KY FL LISATANENG. Kilala pala ni First Lady Liza Marcos at naka bonding pa nya ito ang dalawang judges ng ICC na pumirma sa pag arrest ni tatay digong”
(Before former president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested, these ICC judges partied with first lady Liza. First Lady Liza Marcos knows and bonded with the two ICC judges who signed Duterte’s arrest.)
The caption of the reel read:
“IS THIS A COINCIDENCE..BFF PALA NI LISATENENG ANG DALAWANG ITECH (Liza is friends with these two)”
The false photos are circulated by other users on FB, Threads and X (formerly Twitter).
The original image was posted on March 6 on Threads by Katrina Roman Quintas, president and founder of Quintas-Mayenberger INC. It was her photo with the first lady and Katrina Ponce Enrile, administrator of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority and daughter of Juan Ponce Enrile, President Marcos’ chief legal counsel.
Both women attended the Manila International Film Festival in Los Angeles, California from March 5 to 8 where Araneta-Marcos was among the special guests.
A similar photo was posted by singer-actress Giji Kocher (also known as Djhoanna Garcia) on FB, naming the women in the photos. The caption of her post read:
“It was truly an honor to be in the company of the First Lady of the Republic of the Philippines Madame Liza Araneta-Marcos, Secretary Katrina Ponce Enrile, my Swister Maricar, Katrina Quintas and Babydoll Aquino.”
The false posts spread on social media a day after former president Rodrigo Duterte made his initial appearance before the ICC judges on March 14 in The Hague, Netherlands.
Uploaded by several users on FB and Threads, the erroneous posts have collectively garnered around 3500 reactions, 1100 comments, 4405 shares. The deleted post on X by former National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict spokesperson Lorraine Marie Badoy had garnered 672 likes, 463 reposts and 367 comments on March 15, according to a web archiving tool.
