Netizens are circulating a quote card supposedly of Police Maj. General Nicolas Torre III saying he will move overseas should Vice President Sara Duterte win in the next presidential elections. This is fake.
The Facebook (FB) page Hugpong Agila News Today, which claims to be a media outlet, posted the quote card on March 20. A reader forwarded the same graphic to the VERA Files Misinformation Tipline for verification.
In the post formatted like a news report, Torre was supposedly asked about his plans if Duterte became president. He allegedly answered:
“Madali lang (It’s easy). If it is too alarming then I will apply for resignation and leave the country, together I will bring my family with me. Hindi nila ako maiisahan. Ginawa ko lang naman ang trabaho ko. Kung matalino sila mas matalino ako kasi ako lang ang nakagawa nyan, ang papuntahin ang dating Pangulo sa The Hague (They cannot fool me. I just did my job. If they are smart, I am smarter because I am the only one who did it, sending the former president to The Hague). Not even De Lima or Trillanes.”
This is fabricated. Torre, currently chief of the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, disowned the circulating statement and called it “fake news”.
In a March 21 FB post, before locking the visibility of his profile’s content, Torre said he did not utter the quoted remark.
“Liwanagin natin: Hindi ko kailanman sinabi ito. Ito ay gawain ng mga taong naubusan na ng argumento at nagreresort na sa FAKE NEWS! Tawa na lang muna tayo.
(Let’s be clear: I never said this. This is the work of people who have run out of arguments and are resorting to FAKE NEWS! Let’s just laugh for now.)”
The FB page of Radyo Pilipinas, a Presidential Broadcast Service-operated station, also posted a screenshot of the general’s post in their own fact check post.
No reputable news organization has written about Torre making such a statement.
Take a moment to check the veracity of posts on social media. VERA Files has seen a deluge of disinformation related to former president Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest and case at the International Criminal Court (ICC). These have included posts targeting Torre, who read the Miranda rights to Duterte when he was arrested on March 11.
The fabricated quote card circulated six days after Duterte’s initial hearing at the ICC where his legal counsel Salvador Medialdea claimed that his client was “abducted” and “denied all access to the legal recourse.”
The fake post by the FB page Hugpong Agila News Today (created on March 13 as Hugpon g News Today) garnered 16,000 reactions, 7,800 comments and 9,800 shares. Nine other posts by FB users and pages such as Metro Headlines (created on Jan. 29, 2019 as Whats New todays), Solid Duterte Supporters (created on Aug. 27, 2017 as Solid DDS) and PROUD WABAD (created on Aug. 31, 2020 as A&A Lechon atbp.), collectively garnered 4,976 reactions, 3,312 comments and 1,977 shares.
Some posts also bore links that led netizens to e-commerce sites – a tactic commonly used in fake quote cards and scams.
