A circulating Facebook (FB) reel depicting Sen. Imee Marcos hugging and kissing Nicholas Kaufman, counsel for former president Rodrigo Duterte at the International Criminal Court (ICC), has drawn one million views. The video is fake.
The video uploaded on May 29 featured two clips of Marcos with Kaufman. The first clip showed the two hugging, while the second clip featured them kissing. The reel was overlaid with the text:
“From The Hague With Love”
The videos merged two official photos and animated them to make it seem as if Marcos and Kaufman were hugging and kissing.
The first photo in the video was attributed to Marcos by The Manila Bulletin but is not available on her social media accounts. The photo used to make the second clip was posted by Marcos on May 29.
Marcos accompanied Vice President Sara Duterte to The Hague, Netherlands, where the senator met up with Kaufman.
The vice president said on June 1 that Marcos was “only [at The Hague] to talk to Atty. Kaufman,” adding that the senator was not allowed to visit former president Rodrigo Duterte at the Scheveningen detention facility. The ICC detainees are allowed only to have “privacy with defence lawyers, to privileged communication with a consular or diplomatic representative, to visits [of] a minister or spiritual advisor, and to visits with family, including a spouse or partner.”
The former president is detained in Scheveningen, the ICC’s detention facility in The Hague, as he awaits the confirmation of charges hearing scheduled on Sept. 23. He was arrested on March 11 under an ICC warrant coursed through the International Criminal Police Organization.
The FB reel has so far garnered over 15,800 reactions, 1,200 comments, 556 shares and one million views.
