MANILA, Philippines – Facebook posts that sought to discredit victims of extrajudicial killings under the Duterte administration surged during the week that the International Criminal Court (ICC) held pre-trial hearings on the crimes against humanity case filed against the former president, a Nerve analysis showed. 

Data forensics group The Nerve looked into recent drug war-related content on Facebook, particularly from February 23 to 27, and found hundreds of public posts that showed the following:

• False information about the death of Ephraim Escudero, brother of Sheerah who was at The Hague to witness Duterte’s pre-trial hearings
• Desecration of the memory of teenage drug war victim Kian delos Santos by describing him as “patron saint of addicts”
• Questions on how families of victims could afford to travel to The Hague, the Netherlands, to witness Duterte’s pre-trial hearings last February
• Mocking statements of Sheerah, Llore Pasco — another family member of a drug war victim at The Hague, and the victims’ counsel at the ICC

While the majority of these posts consisted of news and updates on former president Rodrigo Duterte’s detention as well as statements of support for drug war victims, an estimated 30% included posts casting doubt on the victims. These posts peaked in the same week of the pre-trial hearings.

These posts, The Nerve found, were mostly published by pages that call themselves news or media groups, but show signs of coordinated, inauthentic behavior. 

False claims on Ephraim Escudero’s death

Around 2.8% of the Facebook posts in The Nerve’s dataset included false and misleading claims about the death of Ephraim.

The 18-year-old was reported missing along with his 52-year-old neighbor, Ronnie Pionilla, in San Pedro, Laguna, on September 19, 2017. Two days later, Ephraim’s body was found in a village in Angeles City, Pampanga, his head wrapped in packaging tape and his head with bullet wounds. Pionilla’s lifeless body was found 10 kilometers away in Porac, Pampanga. 

Some of the posts said that Ephraim did not die, manipulating images of his sister Sheerah holding his photo and replacing it with that of someone else. News outlets have fact-checked this as early as March 2025.

On the other hand, some posts said that Ephraim had indeed been killed — although not in the name of the drug war, but because he was a victim of“riding-in-tandem” killers. The Nerve found at least 49 mentions of “riding in tandem” in its analysis, included in posts that have as many as 36,000 reactions and 2,100 shares.

Sass Sasot, a pro-Duterte propagandist, posted a similar claim on her Facebook page on February 24, attaching an excerpt from a piece on research site The Conversation, which reported the “riding in tandem” incident. This post has more than 19,000 reactions and 2,100 shares as of writing.

However, the said The Conversation piece has been taken down from its site. An archived edition had the same excerpt in Sasot’s post, but also included that Ephraim “had been a recreational drug user but as far as his family knew, hadn’t used in a few years.”

We reached out to the editorial team of The Conversation via email on Wednesday, March 11, to inquire why its piece was taken down. We will update this story once it responds.

Desecrating Kian’s memory

Even Kian delos Santos, a teen killed during the drug war, was not spared. He was featured in almost 8% of the Facebook posts.

Published mostly in January 2026, the posts recirculated news of the memorial marker built for the 17-year-old at the San Roque Cathedral in Caloocan City in August 2018. The marker “serves to mirror what’s happening in our society, a reminder that extrajudicial killings exist, and that Kian is a victim,” said his uncle Randy delos Santos during the unveiling ceremony.

Kian was killed in August 2017 during police operations in Caloocan City. Law enforcers claimed he was a drug courier, but several eyewitnesses and CCTV footage of police dragging Kian to a dark alley disputed this. Three policemen were convicted of murder in November 2018, with the Supreme Court affirming the decision with finality in December 2025.

Still, dozens of Facebook posts in The Nerve’s dataset wrote sardonic captions like “Saint Kian, foil for us” or “Saint Kian, Patronus Medicamentus Addictus, run for us.” Some of these posts even included a photo of Delos Santos manipulated to look like a saint. These kinds of posts have as many as 22,500 reactions and 400 shares.

The posts echoed Facebook user Jack Argota, who, in December 2025, posted a news report of the memorial with the caption “Saint Kian the drag runner, pray for us”, amassing at least 18,000 pure “Haha” reactions. Rappler has recently fact-checked a couple of Argota’s Facebook posts.

Funded by the government?

Around 6% of the Facebook posts in The Nerve’s dataset had Duterte supporters insinuating that the victims’ families’ trip to The Hague to witness the former president’s pre-trial hearings at the ICC was funded by the government.

This has been disputed by ICC-accredited assistant to counsel Kristina Conti. In a Facebook post on February 21, the lawyer wrote that advocacy groups Duterte Panagutin Network, Rise Up for Life and for Rights, and National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers held separate fundraising campaigns for the drug war victims’ trip to The Hague. 

Families of drug war victims Sheerah and Pasco also refuted claims of a government-funded trip during a press conference at The Hague, ABS-CBN News reported on February 22. Pasco, a 71-year-old mother whose two sons were killed by police, was also at the ICC to witness Duterte’s pre-trial hearings.

The disputed claim spread throughout Facebook, nonetheless. Most of these posts merely featured quote cards from Conti, Sheerah, and Pasco — with straightforward, neutral captions about their statements. These were still met with as many as 134,000 “Haha” reactions. They have also been shared more than 4,000 times.

At least 1.1% of the Facebook posts in The Nerve’s dataset even nitpicked as far as Sheerah’s clothes at The Hague, questioning how she got access to winter clothing (she borrowed these from human rights lawyer Sol Taule). The highest engaged post of this kind, published by a page named “Infact Buzz”, got more than 13,000 pure “Haha” reactions.

A flood of ‘Haha’ reactions for Sheerah, Pasco, victims’ counsels

Duterte supporters poked fun at statements of Sheerah, Pasco, and even the legal representatives of the victims (CLRVs) accredited by the ICC.

Sheerah was one of the most subjected to online attacks, with around 21% of the total discussion in The Nerve’s dataset tackling her.

More than 14% of the Facebook posts featured her speaking to the media at The Hague, sharing her experience during the drug war, her journey to The Hague, and her thoughts on Duterte and his supporters. Like in the previous tactic, these posts only featured quote cards of Sheerah’s statement with neutral captions.

Most of these posts were still met with ridicule, amassing as many as 120,000 pure “Haha” reactions.

Sheerah’s fellow drug war victim at The Hague, Pasco, was not immune to this kind of posts, either. Her statements to the media, published also via quote cards on Facebook, got as many as 14,000 pure “Haha” reactions. These posts comprised almost 4% of The Nerve’s dataset.

CLRVs Joel Butuyan, Gilbert Andres, and ICC principal counsel for victims Paolina Massidda were also ridiculed on social media. 

Statements of the ICC-accredited counsels during the pre-trial hearings were featured in more than 9% of the Facebook posts in The Nerve’s analysis. These posts, similar to the quote cards featuring Sheerah and Pasco, were also riddled with as many as 22,000 pure “Haha” reactions. 

These quote cards were mostly posted by Facebook pages that brand themselves as news but lack transparency: no bylines or editorial boards and no attribution to sources of content.

One of these pages, “Pinoy Trending,” also published posts that were similar to those of “Unofficial: Bato Solid Supporters,” a page dedicated to supporters of Senator Bato dela Rosa but also posts about current events. These duplicate posts were published a minute apart, at most.

The ICC has named Dela Rosa, who was Philippine National Police chief under the Duterte administration, as one of the former president’s fellow co-perpetrators in its drug war investigation.

The “Unofficial: Bato Solid Supporters” Facebook page got the highest average interactions on posts in The Nerve’s dataset — as high as 48,000 per post. It has a million followers.

The supposed news pages followed suit, amassing as many as 35,000 average interactions per post. They also boast a strong following, reaching as many as 690,000.

These pages mimic a tactic found on YouTube during the 2022 elections, where hyperpartisan channels “hijacked” the news genre to influence the polls. 

From online to offline

These attacks mirror the online propaganda networks that launched Duterte’s presidency, defended his bloody anti-drug campaign, attacked critics, and promoted a culture of authoritarianism in the country. These networks remain visible today.

And they have gone offline. “Even inside the ICC, some supporters of the former president made comments about the victims’ families in common areas — ‘adik naman ‘yan (they are drug addicts),’” said Patricia Enriquez of the Duterte Panagutin Network, or Hold Duterte Accountable Network, in an interview with Rappler. – Rappler.com