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FACT CHECK: Trillanes threat of SC justices impeachment NEEDS CONTEXT

WHAT WAS CLAIMED

Antonio Trillanes IV warned that Supreme Court justices may be impeached if they do not reverse their decision on VP Sara Duterte’s impeachment case.

OUR VERDICT

Needs Context:

There is no record of an interview of the staunch Duterte critic on radio or by any news outlet where he supposedly made such a statement.

By VERA Files

Feb 12, 2026

2-minute read
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At least six Facebook pages are circulating a quote attributed to former senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV allegedly warning that Supreme Court justices may be impeached if they do not reverse their decision declaring Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment “unconstitutional.” This needs context.

In an FB post on Feb. 1, featuring a photo of the prominent Duterte administration critic with the Supreme Court in the background, the quote card reads:

“Trillanes nagbabala na maaaring maimpeach ang mga justice [SC] kung hindi babaliktarin ang desisyon kay VP Sara.”

(Trillanes warns that [Supreme Court] justices could be impeached if they do not reverse their decision regarding VP Sara.)

Five versions of this quote card circulated on the platform the following day. These subsequent posts used different photos of the former senator. They carried lengthy captions that started with the warnings:

“MGA SUPREME COURT JUSTICE MAAARING MA-IMPEACH KAPAG HINDI BUMALIKTAD SA KANILANG DESISYON – TRILLANES”

“Trillanes, nagbabala ng impeachment trial laban sa mga justices ng Korte Suprema”

The posts further claim that Trillanes issued these warnings during an appearance on the program “Laban para sa Karapatan.”

Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV did not warn Supreme Court justices that they may be impeached if their ruling on VP Sara Duterte’s impeachment case is not reversed. A previous statement on the radio program was used out of context. There are no recent reports on this issue.

These posts are fake. The former Philippine naval officer never made such statements.

Trillanes has not appeared as a guest on the “Laban para sa Karapatan” program of DWIZ 882 radio station to discuss the SC’s final ruling.

His last interview on the program was in July 2025, after the High Court’s initial ruling, where he said the justices were opening themselves to impeachment if they did not support Duterte’s impeachment. It was not made as a threat.

There are also no reports from legitimate news organizations or mainstream media outlets about this.

The quote cards surfaced days after the Supreme Court issued its Jan. 29 final ruling unanimously declaring the 2025 impeachment articles against the Vice President unconstitutional due to the “one-year bar” rule.

As of writing, the viral quote cards published by Facebook pages Masang Pilipino (created in December 2016), Pinoy Trending (created December 2014), and Huli (created May 2017) have collectively garnered 94,976 reactions, 21,041comments, and 1,301 shares.

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