Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte is facing numerous impeachment bids following her bitter split with former ally President Ferdinand Marcos, but an old video of a meeting in New York City circulating online has nothing to do with the feud. While there have been demonstrations in support of Duterte, the video actually shows a parade on Philippine Independence Day in June 2024.
“This is happening not only in different parts of the Philippines, but also in other countries. Their cry? We support Vice President Sara Duterte!” read part of the Tagalog Language X post shared on December 1, 2024.
Subsequently, it seemed questionable whether impeachment of Duterte is possible.
The post – which has been viewed more than 1.3 million times – included a video showing a group of people in green walking behind a banner that read “Sara Duterte Supporters New York, USA.”
It was shared in other social media posts, alongside similar claims here, here and here.
Screenshot of the misleading post, captured on December 31
Duterte has been embroiled in political turmoil after holding an expletive-laden online press conference in November, where she claimed to have told someone to kill Marcos, his wife Liza and House of Representatives Speaker Martin Romualdez – a cousin of Marcos – if they were murdered.
Philippine outlet Rappler reported that her supporters held a rally at the Duterte family stronghold in Davao City on November 23 to defend her controversial comments (archived link).
Nevertheless, separate impeachment complaints against her were filed with the Philippine parliament – including two by coalitions of activists and a third by seven Manila-based Catholic priests (archived link).
The prospects for her removal remain unclear, however, as the House Judiciary Committee said on December 19 that none of the complaints are scheduled for public hearings – a requirement before lawmakers vote to dismiss or approve the complaint.
Comments on the posts indicate that some users believed the video showed a rally in New York in response to efforts to oust her.
“Other countries are giving their full support. Bongbong Marcos must go!” one user responded with the president’s nickname.
“Oh my god, Vice President Sara Duterte has so many supporters,” said another.
But the video actually shows a parade being held to mark the Philippines’ Independence Day in June 2024.
Parade on Independence Day
A reverse image search on Google led to a Facebook post shared on June 3, 2024 with a video showing a scene similar to the misleading post (archived link).
The caption of the video states that Duterte’s supporters are seen in New York.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the misleading video (left) and the June 3 Facebook post (right):
Screenshot comparison of the misleading video (left) and the June 3 Facebook post (right)
Further keyword searching turned up a livestream of the Philippine Independence Day Council (PIDC), published on June 2, 2024, which also showed a similar scene (archived link).
The caption of the video reads: “126th Philippine Independence Day Parade, New York City.” The same banner and people in green can be seen at the 2:26:56 point of the video.
The PIDC said on its website that the parade was held on June 2 and was the “largest Philippine Independence Day celebration” in the United States (archived link).
Some Marcos supporters can be seen in the parade – including a woman at the 1:37:41 mark holding a sign that reads “We love President Bongbong Marcos!”
AFP has fact-checked other disinformation about alleged rallies in support of Duterte here and here.
