Multiple Facebook posts are claiming that former senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV admitted he filed complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte to foil her presidential run in 2028. This is false.
First published on Feb. 17, the post, which featured a photo of Trillanes, bore the headline:
“TRILLANES, INAMIN NA KINASUHAN NIYA SI VP SARA PARA HINDI ITO MAKATAKBO SA PAGKAPANGULO
(Trillanes admits filing a case against VP Sara to prevent her from running for president).”
The post included an alleged quote from the staunch critic of the Duterte family that said:
“…Kasi yun yung way ko na para ma-expose sila, para makilala sila ng mga tao. Iba yung pagkakilala nung mga naniniwala sa kanila na tingin nila they are good public officials, but they are not
(…Because that’s my way of exposing them, so people would truly know them. Their supporters think they are good public officials, but they are not).”
Similar posts with copy-paste text carried different photos of the Duterte family’s fiercest critic.
Trillanes, with members of civil society, filed complaints of plunder, graft and malversation against the Vice President before the Office of the Ombudsman on Jan. 21. This is related to her alleged misuse of public and confidential funds during her stint as Davao City mayor, Education secretary and her current elective post.
There are no news reports of Trillanes saying the cases were filed to stop Duterte’s presidential run in 2028.
One of the photos used in these spurious posts was published by GMA News Online on Oct. 21, 2025 taken when Trillanes filed plunder and graft complaints against former president Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go.
The post circulated as new impeachment cases were filed against the vice president in the House of Representatives. The Duterte scion announced her running for president in 2028 on Feb. 18.
Published by FB pages Mindoro Express Balita (created Oct. 13, 2024), Unofficial: Bato Solid Supporters (created June 01, 2016), BastaViral (created June 29, 2020) and several other FB accounts, the post has collectively garnered over 86,032 reactions; 16,617 comments; and 1,204 shares.
