Four photos purportedly showing P250 billion worth of drugs seized in Davao City that were allegedly meant to be delivered to the residence of Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte are going viral on Facebook. This is false.
First published by an FB page on April 28, the post was captioned:
“250 billion pesos na DRUGA SA DAVAO CITY
huli NG MGA pulis ayon SA driver NG van dedeliver niya ito papunta SA BAHAY ni baste duterte at Hindi di omano niya alam na DRUGA Ang laman NG kahon kahong parcel…
ayon SA driver napag otosan lamang Siya NG KANYANG among Chinese na ihatid ito sa BAHAY ni BASTE DUTERTE
(P250 billion worth of drugs in Davao City were seized by the police. According to the van’s driver, he was delivering them to the house of Baste Duterte and claimed he did not know the boxes contained drugs. He said he was only instructed by his Chinese employer to bring them to Baste Duterte’s residence.)”
Two other users shared screenshots of the fraudulent post on April 29, with the FB page’s name undisclosed.
A reverse image search led VERA Files to the original photos published by Bombo Radyo Bacolod on April 22, which showed 33 boxes of smuggled cigarettes worth P1.65 million confiscated in Barangay Pahanocoy, Bacolod City. The images were likely intentionally cropped to conceal the radio station’s logo.
The Davao City Police Office, in its April 29 statement, debunked the social media posts linking the city to a “drug seizure” operation, calling them “false, malicious and without factual basis.”
The spurious posts misrepresenting pictures of boxes of illicit cigarettes as drugs began spreading six days after former senator Antonio Trillanes IV alleged that the Duterte family — from the former president down to his spouse and children — received drug money worth P181.6 million from Sammy Uy, whom he described as an alleged “drug lord.”
In his sworn affidavit, which he read during the April 22 House Committee on Justice hearing on impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte, Trillanes showed the breakdown of alleged financial transactions, including the P51.5 million that Baste Duterte had supposedly received from Uy.
Circulated by a newly-created FB page, Pili Pinas (April 15, 2026), and two other users, the trending posts with untrue claims collectively amassed 57,500 reactions; 30,710 comments and 3,909 shares as of writing.
