A YouTube video and multiple Facebook (FB) posts claim that Vice President Sara Duterte will no longer be impeached after several senators resigned and Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero was “stripped of power.” These claims are false.
Originally published by a YouTube channel on June 14, the spurious 52-minute video bore a headline that read:
“KAKAPASOK LANG! MGA SENADOR NAG-RESIGN NA, CHIZ ESCUDERO NAGULAT (JUST IN! SENATORS HAVE RESIGNED, CHIZ ESCUDERO SHOCKED)”
Its thumbnail also carried an overlay text that partly read:
“ESCUDERO NAGULAT TINANGGALAN NG KAPANGYARIHAN (ESCUDERO SHOCKED, STRIPPED OF POWER).”
In the first 20 seconds of the video, a narrator claimed:
“Sobrang nakakagulat na balita! Grabe, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero nagsalita na. Nagulat si Vice President Sara Duterte. Tinanggal na impeachment. Ayon sa nakalap nating impormasyon, nag-alisan na ang mga senador. Huling araw na nila sa Senate. Sunod-sunod na nag-alisan ang mga senador kaya hindi na nila ma-impeach si VP Sara Duterte.
(Shocking news! Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero has spoken. Vice President Sara Duterte was surprised. The impeachment has been dropped. Based on the information we gathered, the senators have already left. It was their last day in the Senate. One after another, the senators stepped down, so they can no longer impeach VP Sara Duterte.)”
Contrary to the claims, no evidence of any resignation was shown in the YouTube video. It only featured portions of the June 11 Senate session during which Escudero delivered his closing statement and the outgoing senators—Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, Sens. Cynthia Villar and Ramon Bong Revilla Jr.—had their valedictory speeches as the 19th Congress adjourned sine die on the same day.
Sens. Nancy Binay and Grace Poe are also graduating but their speeches were not included in the video. Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino is also among the outgoing senators but did not give his valedictory speech during the session.
Escudero, whose term as a senator ends in 2028, was not “stripped of power” as Senate president. Earlier, Escudero said he will remain the top leader of the chamber until the next Congress unless a majority votes to replace him.
The Senate president previously said the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte will commence after the 20th Congress convenes in July.
Several FB pages shared a copy of the video’s thumbnail, combined with images of the 19th Congress senators and even that of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in one post, arranged into a photo collage. The inaccurate posts uploaded on June 15 have a caption that read:
JUST IN: Multiple Philippine Senators Resign in Sudden Political Storm — Chiz Escudero Caught Off Guard in Live Senate Session! What Triggered the Mass Exit? The Truth Is More Explosive Than Expected!
read more https://newspro.celebtoday24h.com/…/just-in-multiple…/
The FB posts included in their captions a link to a supposed June 14 news article from newspro.celebtoday 24h.com, which alleged that “multiple sources inside the Senate chamber confirmed that at least four senators, including two senior committee chairpersons, handed in resignation letters mid-session.”
A keyword search on Google yielded no credible or verified news reports supporting such a claim. However, a June 16 news article published by The Manila Standard reported that Sen. Risa Hontiveros “denied online rumors that she had resigned, rejecting as false news the viral social media claims alleging that ‘multiple’ senators had abruptly stepped down.”
The YouTube and FB posts with untrue claims emerged three days and four days, respectively, after the Senate had the last regular session of the 19th Congress.
The video, published by YouTube channel TATAK TRENDING PH (created on Nov. 13, 2014) has so far garnered 96,670 views, 1,000 reactions, and 482 comments. Meanwhile, multiple posts by several FB pages—including the one first published by NL Star Buzz (July 28, 2024)—have collectively received 689 interactions as of writing.
