Two YouTube videos are claiming that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had ordered that former Sen. Leila de Lima be put back in jail. This is not true.
First uploaded on Nov. 19, six days after de Lima was granted bail, a video bore the headline:
“KAPAPASOK LANG Grabe to! Matinding utos ni PRES BBM FPRRD LEILA DE LIMA Na-shocked mga dilawan iyak (Just in. This is harsh! Intense order of President Bongbong Marcos. Former president Rodrigo Duterte, Leila de Lima were shocked. The yellows cried).”
Its thumbnail also carried a text that read: “IBALIK SA KULONGAN. ITO ANG MATINDING UTOS NI PRES BBM. (Return to prison. This is the harsh order of President BBM).
Another video posted on Nov. 20 repeated the false claim with a headline saying:
“KAPAPASOK LANG : FINISH NA! MATINDING UTOS NI PBBM FPRRD LEILA DE LIMA NATULALA MGA DILAWAN IYAK (Just in: It’s finished! Intense order of PBBM. FPRRD, Leila De Lima were astonished. The yellows cried).”
The text on its thumbnail read: “IBALIK SA SELDA! SHOCKING TINAPOS NA! NATULALA SA UTOS NI PRES BBM FPRRD (Return to jail! Shocking, it’s over! Stunned with the order from President BBM, FPRRD).”
There are no announcements from Malacañang, the Department of Justice nor the Philippine National Police about any order revoking De Lima’s bail and putting her back in prison.
There is also no warrant of arrest recently issued against the former justice secretary from any court.
To support its false claim, the video merely played a commentary from a previously fact-checked vlogger about De Lima’s cases and the International Criminal Court’s investigation into the Duterte administration’s drug war.
Since her release from detention, de Lima has met with former colleagues and supporters, and attended a court hearing for a pending drug case.
De Lima, a fierce critic of former President Rodrigo Duterte and his anti-drug campaign, is out on bail for a case alleging that she received money from the drug trade inside the national penitentiary.
Two other drug-related cases against de Lima were junked in 2021 and 2022. Prior to her release, she was imprisoned for more than six years.
Uploaded by YouTube channel BANAT NEWS UPDATES, the erroneous videos have received 105,961 views, 2,646 likes and 545 comments. Netizens also shared the links on Facebook.
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