Several Facebook users are claiming that Senator-judge Robin Padilla said Vice President Sara Duterte should undergo a lie detector test during her impeachment trial. The statement is fabricated.
On July 14, an FB user posted a quote card featuring a photo of Padilla during the July 7 impeachment trial proceedings. The following quote was attributed to the lawmaker:
“Ang hindi ko maintindihan kung sino sino ang tinatanong natin. Bakit ‘di si VP Inday ang tanungin natin para matapos na ito, ipa-lie detector [test] natin si VP Sara para magkaalaman agad. Diba
(What I don’t understand is we’re asking just anybody. Why don’t we ask VP Inday herself to put this to rest? Let’s have VP Sara take a lie detector test so we can get the truth right away. Right)?”
Padilla did not make such a remark in the past two weeks since the trial began on July 6.
VERA Files reviewed the official video recordings and journal entries from the impeachment trial proceedings and found no instance in which the senator-judge called on the vice president to undergo a lie detector test.
The photo used in the fake quote card was taken during the July 6 trial, but Padilla only offered his insights when the senator-judges debated on who should be the presiding officer. He made no mention of a lie detector or polygraph test.
He also did not make any such suggestions when he asked clarificatory questions to the witnesses on July 8 and July 14.
The FB page of Padilla’s office has since posted a statement disowning the fake quote card.
Polygraph test results are not admissible as evidence in court according to a Supreme Court ruling, but the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police still use it as a tool for investigation.
The vice president has yet to personally appear before the impeachment court as the trial continues on her alleged betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.
VERA Files has debunked other fake statements attributed to Padilla.
Posts by three FB users and the page Naloko na (created on April 15, 2022) carrying the fake quote card collectively garnered 4,331 reactions, 3,302 comments and 362 shares.
