A video is circulating online claiming the Supreme Court (SC) has declared the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte “null and void.” This is false.
Posted on Feb. 18, a TikTok user published the fraudulent video with a text overlay and caption that read:
“good news mga ka dds, pinawalang bisa ng SC ang impeachment ni vp SARA. siguradong magwawala ang mga loyalista dito…”
(Good news, fellow DDS! The Supreme Court has nullified VP Sara’s impeachment. The loyalists will surely go into a frenzy over this…)
“Walang bisag Ang impeachment ni vp Sara ayon sa SC.”
(The impeachment of VP Sara is invalid, according to the SC.)
On Feb. 19, a Facebook (FB) user republished the same false video.
The post used a Feb. 18 news report on the petition filed by Mindanao lawyers and other individuals before the SC seeking to stop the Senate trial on Duterte’s impeachment and declaring the complaint filed by the House of Representatives null and void.
The petitioners argued the impeachment complaint was “procedurally defective, constitutionally infirm, and jurisdictionally void.”
There was no mention in the news report of a statement or ruling from the SC nullifying Duterte’s impeachment.
According to an impeachment primer released by the University of the Philippines College of Law, the Supreme Court can intervene in an impeachment case to “determine whether or not there has been a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the part of any branch or instrumentality of the government.”
Senate President Escudero said the earliest time the chamber can convene as an impeachment court and start the trial of Duterte is after the new Senate begins sessions in July, but he also said that “it could possibly convene on June 2” for pre-trial procedures.
The inaccurate video surfaced on TikTok the same day Duterte filed a petition before the SC to block the impeachment complaint against her. It was reposted on Facebook the following day.
Published by TikTok user eddiekadalem4, the erroneous post received over 279,000 views, 14,900 reactions, 2,221 comments, and 1,292 shares. Meanwhile, the re-uploaded video by an FB user garnered over 1,100 reactions, 267 comments, and 24,000 views.
