FALSE

A Facebook (FB) reel claimed that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has dismissed the charges of crimes against humanity against former president Rodrigo Duterte. This is false.

A reader sent a request to VERA Files’ Messenger Misinformation Tipline to verify a reel uploaded on May 8. The video was overlaid with text which read:

Pagbasura ng kaso ni FPRRD officially nasa website na. Soon to be release (sic)

Ano kayo ngayon di pahiya sa buong mundo government official”

(Dismissal of FPRRD’s case is officially on the website already. Soon to be released.

What now, the government official is humiliated before the world.)

The video displayed a quote card from News5 and an image from GMA News Online taken during the March 20 hearing by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on the legality of Duterte’s March 11 arrest.

The reel also contains a clip of Vice President Sara Duterte from the May 3 episode of GMA Network’s Saksi news program, in which she said:

Ngayon ay nakalagay na officially sa ICC website ‘yung pagbabasura ng kaso dahil sa kawalan ng jurisdiction ng ICC and sa immediate release ni Pangulong Duterte.”

The clip was taken out of context. The vice president was referring to the appeal submitted on May 1 by Duterte’s lawyers and how the document can be accessed on the ICC website. The ICC has yet to rule on the appeal. The former president’s case was not junked by the ICC nor will he be released soon.

Read the full story on VERA Files Fact Check.

VERA Files is a nonstock, nonprofit independent media organization registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (Company Registration No. CN200808072). Founded in March 2008, it is published by veteran Filipino journalists taking a deeper look into current Philippine issues. Vera is Latin for “true.”

VERA Files was founded by journalists Ellen Tordesillas, Luz Rimban, Booma Cruz, Jennifer Santiago, Yvonne T. Chua and Chit Estella (who passed away in a road crash on May 13, 2011).

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