Old video of Philippine VP’s supporters in New York misleadingly recirculated amid impeachment calls

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte faces numerous impeachment bids following her bitter split with former ally President Ferdinand Marcos, but an old video of a rally in New York City circulating online is unrelated to the spat. While there have been rallies in support of Duterte, the video in fact shows a Philippines independence day parade in June 2024.

“This is not only happening in different parts of the Philippines but also in other countries. Their cry? We support VP Sara Duterte!” read part of the Tagalog-language X post shared on December 1, 2024.

It then appeared to question if the impeachment of Duterte is possible.

The post — which has been viewed over 1.3 million times — contained 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 engulfed in political turmoil after she delivered an expletive-laden online news conference in November where she claimed to have told someone to kill Marcos, his wife Liza, and House of Representatives Speaker Martin Romualdez — a Marcos cousin — if she were assassinated.

Philippine outlet Rappler reported her supporters held a rally in the Duterte family stronghold of Davao City on November 23 to defend her controversial remarks (archived link).  

Nonetheless, separate impeachment complaints against her were made to the Philippine parliament — including two by coalitions of activists and a third by seven Manila-based Catholic priests (archived link).

However, prospects of her removal remain unclear, as the justice committee of the lower house said on December 19 that none of the complaints have been scheduled for public hearings — a requirement before lawmakers vote to dismiss or endorse it.

Comments on the posts suggest that some users believed the video shows a rally in New York in response to the attempts to impeach her.

“Other countries are giving their all-out support. Bongbong Marcos should leave!” one user commented, using the president’s nickname.

“Oh my gosh, VP Sara Duterte has so many supporters,” another said.

But the video actually shows a parade held to mark the Philippines’ independence day in June 2024.

Independence Day parade

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 video’s caption says it shows Duterte’s supporters in New York.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the misleading video (left) and the June 3 Facebook post (right):

Further keyword searches found a live stream by the Philippine Independence Day Council (PIDC) published on June 2, 2024 also showing a similar scene (archived link).

The video’s caption reads: “126th Philippine Independence Day Parade, New York City”. The same banner and people dressed in green are seen at the video’s 2:26:56 mark.

The PIDC said on its website 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 placard that reads “We love President Bongbong Marcos!”

AFP has fact-checked other misinformation here and here about supposed rallies in support of Duterte.

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