A graphic post circulating in Facebook is claiming that Surigao del Norte Rep. Bernadette Barbers denounced and cursed Vice President Sara Duterte after she announced her plan to run in the 2028 elections. This is false.
Two FB pages published the same quote card just hours apart on Feb. 19 featuring a photo of the congresswoman supposedly saying:
“Hay naku, kahit mananalo pa yan si Sara Duterte hindi niya matitinag ang mga Barbers sa Surigao. Put*ng-ina siya! Ambisyosa!
(“Even if Sara Duterte wins, she won’t shake up the Barbers in Surigao. S*n of a b*tch! Ambitious!)”
Part of the caption said the Barbers family is worried about the return of the Dutertes’ political influence, erroneously referring to the Surigao del Norte legislator as head of the Blue Ribbon Committee that it claimed had tackled the 2025 impeachment case against the vice president.
The Blue Ribbon Committee is in the Senate. It was the Senate as a whole which discussed and archived Duterte’s impeachment case.
The lawmaker’s husband, former Rep. Robert “Ace” Barbers, led the Quad Committee of the House of Representatives when it investigated in 2004 to 2005 the drug war and extrajudicial killings linked to former president Rodrigo Duterte.
In an FB post, the congresswoman disowned the statement in the quote card and advised netizens to be wary of similar posts.
She said,
“Mariin kong pinabubulaanan at kinokondena ang kumakalat na fake news na nagsasabing ako raw ay “pumalag” sa 2028 presidential bid ni Sara Duterte. Wala akong inilabas na ganoong pahayag, at lalong hindi ko kailanman gagamitin ang bastos at mapanirang pananalitang ikinakabit sa akin sa nasabing post
(I emphatically deny and condemn the circulating fake news where I allegedly said I was against the 2028 presidential bid of Sara Duterte. I never made such a statement, and I would never use the profanities or rude language that was attributed to me in the post).”
The false posts spread after Vice President Duterte announced on Feb. 18 that she would seek the presidency in 2028, formally declaring her bid amid impeachment cases ramping up against her in what is regarded as an early move.
The posts by an FB user and FB page Surigao Viral Issues (created March 11, 2021), have collectively garnered 97,000 reactions; 47,900 comments; and 2,164 shares.
