Social media has been awash with disinformation following the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who was turned over to the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague on a warrant for alleged crimes against humanity related to his violent ‘drug war.’
Posts commonly twist the legal facts surrounding Duterte’s arrest and detention, portraying him as a victim of injustice.
But one disinformation narrative threatened to distort the peace situation in Mindanao, risking damage to public perception of the ongoing peace process.
There was a concern that bad actors could exploit the false narratives to recruit residents into mounting a violent response to the arrest.
In the days following the arrest, numerous social media pages have falsely claimed that former separatist groups Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were opposed to the arrest and were taking up arms and mobilizing in support of Duterte.
The posts misrepresented unrelated videos of unrest in Indonesia, claiming they were happening in Mindanao, to stoke fears of a brewing armed conflict.
Facebook pages that usually post updates on the entertainment industry joined in spreading baseless reports that the MNLF was “ready” after Vice President Sara Duterte, daughter of the former president, supposedly called its founding chairman Nur Misuari.
The MNLF has since debunked the claim.
The MNLF and the MILF have signed peace agreements with the government. High ranking officials of the groups are currently serving in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), the interim government of the autonomous region established in 2019.
Yasmira Moner, political science professor from the Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology, told the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) that the disinformation campaign threatened to undermine decades of peacebuilding efforts in the region.
“Naapektuhan (nito yung peace process) kasi siyempre nawawalan ng tiwala doon sa… several years of negotiated agreement na ang hirap, tapos ang bilis lang maniwala ng mga tao sa isang fake news (It affects the peace process because it weakens trust on the hard-won peace agreements that took years to negotiate, and then people just quickly believe just one piece of ‘fake news’),” Moner said.
“Perception is powerful because in politics, it is the reality,” she said.
She expressed concern that bad actors could exploit the false narratives to recruit residents into responding violently to the arrest.
“Public opinion can also be damaging. And sometimes, a constructed reality that you’re not even aware of can be used by so-called entrepreneurs of violence who might say, ‘Okay, we finally have an entry point for recruitment,’” she said.
The claims
PCIJ tracked at least 13 accounts that shared a video of armed individuals in Indonesia and falsely labelled it as troops of the MNLF or MILF gathering on March 12—the day after Duterte was arrested.
TikTok user @zexxy41 posted the video on March 3, 2025, marking what appears to be the first instance of the false claim. The clip’s geotag indicates it was taken in Indonesia’s Puncak Jaya Regency in Papua, an area with an ongoing separatist insurgency.
Videos falsely labelling the event as MNLF troops gathering in Mindanao began circulating on TikTok on the morning of March 12, with the most viral post garnering at least 228,000 views in one week.
Iterations of the same clip had spread on Facebook and YouTube hours later, with some falsely presenting the armed individuals as MILF combatants instead.
Another video, also taken in Puncak Jaya Regency, showing armed individuals engaged in a shootout, was used by some accounts to suggest that armed conflict was taking place somewhere in the Philippines, or to falsely depict a brewing “civil war” in Mindanao.
These videos also started circulating on March 12.
YouTube channel “Papua Insight” had previously posted a longer version of the video on March 5. Visual clues indicate that the road is located in the Mulia district in Puncak Jaya Regency. There were also a couple of Indonesian flags visible along the street.
Most of the users who shared these videos have follower counts in the thousands. One YouTube channel circulated both clips.
A seemingly coordinated disinformation network became more evident on the night of March 13, when a number of entertainment-related Facebook pages falsely reported that the Vice President had “called” the MNLF and that the group declared it was “ready.”
It features a fabricated quote attributed to MNLF founding chairman Nur Misuari.
The MNLF was quick to debunk one of the Facebook posts, but the same photo had since been reproduced on TikTok. One post gained at least 50,400 views.
The claim that the MNLF was “ready” was taken from an old statement by one of its leaders, Rolando Olamit, who said in a July 2024 media interview that the group was willing to provide security for the vice president. At the time, Duterte’s security detail had been reduced.
A clip of Olamit’s interview also surfaced online following Duterte’s arrest. One of the earliest posts was made by a Facebook user on the night of the arrest itself and has since gained over seven million views and more than 7,000 shares.
A side by side comparison of the fabricated posts (left) and a clip of Olamit’s media interview posted in August 2024 (right).
Duterte is the first Philippine president from Mindanao. The Bangsamoro Organic Law—which established the BARMM and empowered the MILF to lead the interim government—was passed during his term.
The former president also maintains good relations with MNLF’s Misuari.
Sensitive time
What were these claims based on?
“The MNLF and MILF remain a potent political and military force in the Mindanao context,” said Moner, adding that thousands of armed combatants have yet to be decommissioned by the government.
Moner said some of the members of the MNLF and the MILF remain loyal to Duterte. She said there might have been pro-Duterte disinformation networks that hoped to use the former separatist groups to push a narrative that Duterte has a strong force behind him.
The professor said there needs to be stronger pushback against these kinds of false narratives. She emphasized that the two groups have consistently fought for justice and autonomy—and have not defended politicians.
“We need to also raise the questions at the national level in such a way that we have a broader coalition of disinformation busters,” she said in a mix of Filipino and English.
The disinformation campaign emerged during a politically sensitive period in the BARMM.
It came on the heels of a leadership shakeup in the BARMM interim government, where President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. replaced MILF chairman Ahod Ebrahim as BARMM’s chief minister,
Despite the MILF’s “frustrations,” the former rebel group committed to continuing its support to the peace process.
Despite this, MILF leaders maintain their commitment to protect the peace in the region. — PCIJ.org
