A video on YouTube and Facebook (FB) is claiming that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has concluded its probe into the drug war-related killings in the country and that former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV will be arresting former president Rodrigo Duterte. Both claims are false.
The ICC has not announced any major development in its probe into the situation which covers “the crime against humanity of murder, committed in the Philippines between Nov. 1, 2011 and March 16, 2019 in the context of the so-called ‘war on drugs’ campaign.” Trillanes as a civilian is in no position to arrest the former president or anyone.
Posted on Jan. 5, the video said in its headline:
“ICC INVESTIGATION TAPOS na! TRILLANES DAW AARESTO KAPAGLUMABAS na ang WARRANT kay FPRRD! NASUPALPAL (ICC investigation is finished! Trillanes will be the one to arrest FPRRD once the warrant comes out! Shot down)?”
It was reuploaded on FB that same day, carrying the same text in its caption along with the headline: “ICC investigation tapus na FPRRD AArestohin na (ICC investigation is over. FPRRD will be arrested).”
There has been no official announcement from the ICC that it has finished its investigation on the extrajudicial killings linked to the Davao Death Squad and the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs.
The ICC has also not yet issued summons or warrants against Duterte or any other individual named in documents submitted to the court.
Since the international tribunal has no police force of its own, it relies on the law enforcement agencies of state parties to conduct arrests.
Trillanes, a retired naval officer, is not part of any of the country’s civilian law enforcement agencies such as the Philippine National Police or National Bureau of Investigation, among others. The former senator, however, filed a complaint against Duterte before the ICC in 2017.
The erroneous video emerged the same day that Trillanes speculated in a Teleradyo Serbisyo interview that the ICC may have already finished its investigation.
Uploaded by verified YouTube channel SHOWBIZ CHIKA-DORO (created May 21, 2019) and FB page Andy Vlogs (created May 1, 2022), the video has received a total of 16,419 interactions.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
