Several posts circulating online show a photo of former president Rodrigo Duterte supposedly looking skinny and frail while under custody of the International Criminal Court. This is fake.
A photo from Oct. 2024, taken when he was still in the Philippines, was digitally altered.
On Jan. 13, a Facebook page posted a spurious photo of the former president with shoulder-length hair, wearing white, and standing with his right hand raised. It carried a caption that read:
“Sa isinagawang detention review sa International CriminaI Court (ICC), naghain ang kampo ni FPRRD ng sariling medical assessment, na naglalahad ng patuloy na paghina ng kanyang kaIusugang pangkatawan. Ayon sa depensa, dapat isaalang-alang ng k0rte ang kalagayan ng dating pangulo sa pagrepaso sa kanyang pagkakakuIong kaugnay ng mga kas0ng kinahaharap niya sa ICC.
(In a detention review conducted in the International Criminal Court (ICC), the camp of FPRRD submitted its own medical assessment, which described the continued deterioration of his physical health. According to the defense, the court should take into account the former president’s condition when reviewing his detention in relation to the cases he is facing before the ICC).”
A screenshot of the post circulated on Facebook and TikTok. Some netizens pointed out that the image was edited or AI-generated, while others believed it was real. One user who reposted it on TikTok stated:
“my heart was broken when i saw you tay grabe kasakit sa dughan. huy Lord Bring him Home sa davao” (My heart was broken when I saw you, Dad. It hurts so much in my chest. Oh Lord, bring him home to Davao).
A reverse image search reveals that this is an edited version of a photo of Duterte taken on Oct. 28, 2024, when he took an oath during a Senate probe into the drug war, at which time he appeared to be in good condition.
Local and foreign media outlets that used the original photo credited it to the global news agency Agence France-Presse and the stock photo website Getty Images.
The edited image surfaced after Duterte’s defense team submitted its own medical report to the ICC to support its latest request for interim release. In a document released on Jan. 9, the defense team argued that the former president is an “emaciated, infirm and incapacitated shadow of his former self.”
As of writing, the posts published by the FB page World News and user Zhel Gallarde Vecino collectively received 247 reactions, 7,346 comments, and 7,580 shares. A copy of the photo shared by TikTok user aliesharain.1 earned two million views, 39,500 reactions, 2,243 comments and 4,034 shares.
