A YouTube video is claiming that former senator Antonio Trillanes IV is the government representative who conducted a welfare check on former president Rodrigo Duterte at his detention unit at The Hague. This is false.
Published on Sept. 25, the YouTube video titled “BREAKING: NAKAPASOK NA SA LOOB NG ICC SI TRILLANES” claimed:
“Hindi na tayo member ng ICC di ba, nag-withdraw na tayo mga kababayan, so bakit andyan siya? Kaduda-duda mga kababayan di ba. Tapos coincidentally galit na galit si VP Sara Duterte dahil mayroon daw naniniktik kay Tatay Digong dyan kay ICC. Baka ‘yan na si Trililing… mayroon ‘yan nilulutong mga kaanimalan.”
(We are no longer members of the ICC, right? We have withdrawn, my countrymen, so why is he there? It is doubtful, my countrymen, isn’t it? Then coincidentally, VP Sara Duterte is very angry because someone is allegedly spying on Tatay Digong at the ICC. Maybe that’s Trililing… he must be cooking up something evil there).”
The video has a thumbnail that read, “Spotted sa loob ng ICC si Antonio Trillanes.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs said officials of the Philippine Embassy visited former president Rodrigo Duterte at the Scheveningen prison in The Hague to conduct a welfare check.
The embassy visit to Duterte is part of the DFA’s standard consular duty, which is practiced by all diplomats for Filipinos detained overseas.
Trillanes is neither part of the Philippine Embassy nor is he serving as a diplomat to be granted visitation access to Duterte’s detention unit.
A press release posted on the International Criminal Court website on Sept. 19 showed a group photo of 32 people, including Trillanes, who attended the Tenth Seminar on Cooperation, with the theme “Effective Justice through Efficient Cooperation,” held last Sept. 16 to Sept. 18 in The Hague.
The seminar was intended not only for ICC member states, as it included representatives from six other states that are not parties to the Rome Statute. The Philippines ceased being a state party to the ICC in March 2019 when its withdrawal of membership to the Rome Statute took effect.
Countries where ICC investigations are ongoing were invited to discuss cooperation efforts and good practices. This included the Philippines considering that Duterte had been formally charged with crimes against humanity by the ICC prosecutor for dozens of murders that allegedly happened between 2013 and 2018 during his war on drugs campaign.
The video posted by the YouTube channel Pinoy Views & Opinion (created on Nov. 19, 2016) has so far garnered 25,616 views.
