No, the United Nations has not declared President Rodrigo Duterte the world’s “best president.”
Facebook page DU30 Solid Supporters published Aug. 28 a fabricated post claiming that the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) hailed the Philippine leader in an annual review published August 2016.
The post also featured a screen grab of the CNN International show Anderson Cooper 360 with the obviously photoshopped headline, “Duterte, the best president in the universe”.
No news report, nor any of the documents published after UN ECOSOC’s annual meeting in 2016, echoed DU30 Solid Supporter’s claim.
In fact, the UN has expressed concern over Duterte’s “apparent endorsement of extrajudicial killings” in his war on drugs but Duterte has dismissed criticism from the international body, telling a human rights expert earlier this year to “go to hell.”
DU30 Solid Supporters published its fake news, which has already been shared by over 3,500 people, the same day a second complaint was lodged against Duterte at the International Criminal Court for murder and crimes against humanity by activists and families of victims of the anti-drug war. The first was filed by a Filipino lawyer in April.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
