At least 23 posts by various Facebook pages, including those that are pro-Duterte, posted photos claiming to show that rows of police officers have supposedly surrounded the residence of Vice President Sara to serve a warrant of arrest. This is false and a mere misrepresentation.
First published Sept. 4, on the same day the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 98 issued a warrant of arrest against Duterte on three counts of grave threats, an FB page posted four photos of police officers with a caption:
“BAH4Y NI VP SARA PINALIB0TAN NA NG MGA P0LIS PARA I SERVE ANG WARRA….See more (VP Sara’s house has been surrounded by police to serve the [warrant]…)”
While some pages have republished the exact photos and caption, other posts from Sept. 5 to 6 contained modified text that omitted the phrase “to serve the warrant.”
The erroneous FB posts misused several photos of members of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and Quezon City Police District, originally published by The Philippine Star on Sept. 4, to suggest an alleged larger police presence at Duterte’s house.
The photos were actually taken outside the Quezon City Hall of Justice, not in the residence of the vice president. According to The Philippine Star’s original caption, the officers were leaving the court premises after Duterte’s camp failed to appear for the expected posting of bail in connection with her grave threat case.
During a Sept. 7 press briefing, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said that police personnel serving the warrant were “willingly” allowed into Duterte’s residence and office.
A Sept. 5 recording of the service of the warrant of arrest was also shown during the press conference, depicting only a few police officers, as opposed to what the FB pages implied by using the Philippine Star’s photos of a large group of police officers standing in several rows.
Evident disinfo tactics
VERA Files noted several red flags, which are tactics employed by some disinformation peddlers based on previous fact-checked claims. These include:
- Using “see more” as an end phrase in the caption to suggest additional information follows, and overlaying play buttons on photos to make it appear as though these are videos, altogether enticing users to click the photo set.
- Using the photo set as clickbait to disguise affiliate links that redirect users to e-commerce platforms for monetization purposes.
- The possibility of coordinated activity based on the relatively closely spaced publication times across posts on Sept. 5 and 6.
- The possibility of the FB accounts’ inauthenticity on the basis of masquerading as purported “fan pages” or supporters of the Duterte family and other celebrities, as well as the notable mismatch between the little to no post interactions vis-à-vis their thousands of followers.
The false posts circulated after the issuance of an arrest warrant against Duterte after the Quezon City court found probable cause to charge her with three counts of grave threats, stemming from her assassination comments against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez in 2024.
On Sept. 5, the RTC Branch 98 of Quezon City lifted the arrest warrant against the vice president after she posted bail of P360,000.
The earliest post by FB page C0ng. Kik0 Barzaga ‘Me0w’ Fans (created Nov. 12, 2025) and other reposts from VP SARA volunteers ph (Feb. 25, 2026) and Coco and Julia Updates (Dec. 1, 2024) have collectively received 804 interactions as of writing.
