A Facebook post claims that the Sept. 30 impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte was canceled because some senator-judges had a “traumatic experience” while questioning her brother, Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte. This is false.
An FB page posted a graphic on the same day, containing AI-generated images of Senator-judges Raffy Tulfo and Erwin Tulfo crying, alongside a photo of Baste Duterte taken during the impeachment trial the day before.
It carried the text:
“NGAYONG SEPTEMBER 30 2026 ANG IMPEACHMENT TRIAL NI VP SARAH (sic) DUTERTE KINANSEL O PINOSPON. DAHIL ILAN SA MGA SENATOR JUDGE AY NAGKAROON NG TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE SA PAGTATANONG KAY MAYOR BASTE DUTERTE
(Today, September 30, 2026, the impeachment trial of VP Sara Duterte was canceled or postponed because some of the senator-judges had a traumatic experience while questioning Mayor Baste Duterte).”
The Senate impeachment court did cancel the Sep. 30 trial session, according to an advisory posted by impeachment court spokesperson Reginald Tongol, but not because of a “traumatic experience” by senator-judges.
Various credible news reports also cited Tongol, who said that the trial is “aggressively ahead of schedule” and that the postponement would serve as a “strategic procedural pause” to allow the prosecution and defense panels to prepare for whole-day trial sessions scheduled from Oct. 1 to 15.
The disinformation surfaced after Baste Duterte testified at the impeachment trial on Sept. 29 and was declared a “hostile witness.”
The post, published by an FB blogger with at least 31,000 followers, had accumulated at least 170 reactions, 42 comments and 63 shares, as of writing.
