Video of Philippines' Duterte slamming lawmakers is manipulated
After ex-Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte defended his administration's deadly drug war at a senate probe in October 2024, a manipulated video racked up hundreds of thousands of views in TikTok posts that falsely claimed it showed him blasting corrupt lawmakers. But Duterte made no such remarks during the hearing. The audio was taken from a speech the former president made during a rally in January.
The video, which appears to show Duterte berating officials at a legislative hearing, garnered more than 860,000 views in a TikTok post shared on October 29, 2024.
Duterte can be heard saying in Tagalog: "If I come back into office, I will arrest you all.
"Those who won a seat in Congress, they used to have a Seiko. But by the end of their term, they will be wearing Rolexes. Those in Malacanang (presidential palace) used to drive Tamaraws. They will be leaving in Mercedes-Benzes."
The clip spread in similar TikTok posts in the Philippines, attracting thousands more views in posts here, here and here.
The posts circulated after Duterte -- who was elected on an incendiary law-and-order platform in which he promised to crack down on crime and root out the country's entrenched corruption -- strongly defended his deadly war on drugs at a senate probe on October 28 (archived link).
During the anti-drug campaign he launched shortly after taking office in 2016, Duterte ordered police to shoot dead suspects if officers believed their lives were in danger.
While the crackdown has been widely condemned and sparked an international investigation, only nine police officers have been convicted for killing drug suspects.
Senate probe
A reverse image search of the video on Google found it was taken from the October 28 inquiry -- but the audio has been altered.
The inquiry was livestreamed on the Senate of the Philippines' verified YouTube channel, with the clip shared on TikTok found at the 5:35:35 mark (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the altered video (left) and footage from the October 28 senate probe (right):
The remarks attributed to Duterte in the TikTok posts do not feature in any part of the livestream of the senate probe.
He did claim, however, that "some mayors have owned Mercedes-Benz cars for peddling drugs" at the hearing's 5:22:13 mark.
Edited audio
Keyword searches on Google found the audio from the TikTok clip was taken from various sections of a speech Duterte gave at a prayer rally in the southern Philippines on January 28.
The ex-president posted a livestream of the event on his Facebook page (archived link).
The audio of Duterte purportedly telling lawmakers he would arrest them all if he returned to office was taken from the Facebook video's 3:49:12 mark.
His remarks about lawmakers supposedly entering office wearing Seikos and leaving with Rolexes was taken from the 3:50:17 mark.
The rally saw Duterte launch a foul-mouthed tirade against his successor President Ferdinand Marcos over a campaign to change the country's constitution, as relations soured between their powerful families (archived link).
Local media outlets Manila Bulletin and GMA Integrated News also published videos of Duterte's speech (archived here and here).
