A Philippine Senate hopeful backed by Vice President Sara Duterte has not been filmed saying she should be removed from power, contrary to online posts. The video has been manipulated and originally shows a message opposing Duterte’s impeachment.
“Vic Rodriguez has defected, a former ally is now angry with the Dutertes,” a narrator says in the video shared May 10, 2025 on Instagram.
It appears to show lawyer Victor Rodriguez saying: “Let us also look for the billions of pesos Vice President Sara Duterte plundered from government funds.
“Because you heard it from me and I’ll say it again. Vice President Sara Duterte will be impeached and removed from office.”
Tagalog-language text overlaid to the clip goes on to claim he said the vice president should be jailed.
Rodriguez, a former executive secretary to President Ferdinand Marcos, unsuccessfully ran for senator in the mid-term vote largely defined by the explosive feud between the archipelago’s two highest officials.
The vice president was impeached by the House of Representatives in February for “high crimes” including corruption and an alleged assassination plot against Marcos.
Duterte’s impeachment trial was a key talking point in the election which decided half the 24 senators who will serve as her jury (archived link).
She needs nine votes for an acquittal. Losing would mean her removal and a permanent ban from public office but not imprisonment (archived link).
Rodriguez threw his support behind Duterte after exiting the Marcos government less than three months into the new presidency in 2022 (archived link).
Former president Rodrigo Duterte and daughter Sara both backed Rodriguez’s failed Senate bid (archived here and here).
The manipulated video first spread on TikTok in November 2024. It has been re-shared sporadically since, including on Facebook as a political advert in February.
Philippine fact-checking organisation Vera Files has earlier debunked the posts.
Keyword searches on Google found the original footage of Rodriguez, posted on his TikTok account on November 25, 2024, had the overlaid text “Protect VP Sara Duterte!” at the beginning of the video (archived link).
This footage contained statements edited out in the circulating clip.
Read the full story on AFP Fact Check.