At least three Facebook pages posted reaction videos using audio from an old interview of Vice President Sara Duterte, where she claimed that the International Criminal Court had dismissed for lack of jurisdiction the case against former president Rodrigo Duterte who was ordered released immediately. This is misleading.
VERA Files has debunked a post that used the same clip of the Vice President from the May 3 episode of GMA Network’s Saksi news program that was taken out of context.
Published on June 12, the recent video features an overlaid text welcoming the former Philippine leader. In the audio, which runs for 12 seconds, the vice president can be heard saying:
“Ngayon ay nakalagay na officially sa ICC website ‘yung pagbabasura ng kaso dahil sa kawalan ng jurisdiction ng ICC, and sa immediate release ni Pangulong Duterte.
(Now it’s officially posted on the ICC website that the case has been dismissed for lack of jurisdiction of the ICC and the immediate release of President Duterte).”
Two other reaction videos with the same audio clip came out the next day and on June 14. .
The audio was taken out of context. When the Vice President made the statement, she was referring to the appeal that her father’s lawyers had submitted on May 1 and how the document could be accessed on the ICC website. The ICC dismissed the request for an interim release.
The former president remains in custody at the ICC Detention Centre in Scheveningen in The Hague where he is awaiting the start of his trial on Nov. 30.
The ICC’s Trial Chamber III, which will try Duterte’s case for alleged crimes against humanity, is composed of Presiding Judge Joanna Korner, Judge Keebong Paek and Judge Nicolas Guillou.
The misleading post surfaced amid recent news that the Trial Chamber III ordered a new independent medical examination for Duterte set on June 12.
Published by FB pages JaLyn Charita (created November 15, 2023) and Proud Bisaya (created April 30, 2026), and two FB users, the post collectively garnered 174,800 reactions; 12,328 comments; 11,630 shares.
