Ten days after his arrest, false reports surfaced on Chinese digital media platforms claiming that former President Rodrigo Duterte had collapsed into a coma while in detention at The Hague, where he faces trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity linked to his bloody anti-drug war.
Faced with tough challenges even before the trial begins, the Duterte camp is working to win the former president's case in the streets rather than through the legal channels, which they have long been trying to besmirch through black propaganda and other forms of disinformation.
Indeed, China couldn’t find a more useful and impactful set of proxies than the Dutertes in its geopolitical competition with the United States in the Asia Pacific in the same way that the Americans have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
If this was kidnapping, it was kidnapping in style. Convince the three ICC judges of Pre-Trial Chamber I that it was a crime.
Two versions of a quote card supposedly showing ICC president Tomoko Akane ordering the release of Rodrigo Duterte are circulating online. These are fake.
A video claiming former president Rodrigo Duterte has returned home to Davao City after his arrest and incarceration in The Netherlands is false.
A fake quote card on FB claims that Rep. Stella Quimbo urged police and the DILG to "padlock" Iglesia Ni Cristo churches after Rodrigo Duterte's arrest.
The stunning arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte by Interpol on March 11 has unleashed a torrent of disinformation across social media. Fabricated claims and misleading narratives widely cast him as a victim of injustice in an effort to garner public support.
Several posts online are misleading claiming that the PNP has a memo explicitly forbidding its personnel from voicing out support for Duterte.
Quote cards attributed to movie and TV series characters defending Rodrigo Duterte have become viral online. These are fake.
