Claim: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was arrested after the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) released evidence linking him to illegal drugs.
Rating: FALSE
Why we fact-checked this: As of writing, the YouTube video bearing the claim has over 8,300 views, 490 likes, and 92 comments.
What the video says: At the start of the video, the narrator says: “Isang malaking balita ang yumanig sa bansa matapos arestuhin si Pangulong Kuting Jr. Inilabas ng Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency o PDEA ang mga ebidensyang nag-uugnay sa Pangulo sa malawakang katiwalian na may kinalaman sa sa ilegal na droga.”
(Shocking news shook the country after the arrest of President Kuting Jr. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency or PDEA released evidence linking the President to large-scale corruption involving illegal drugs.)
The video shows a photo of Marcos while mentioning “Pangulong Kuting Jr.” Kuting, which translates to kitten, is an alias that pro-Duterte vlogger “Maharlika” has been using to refer to Marcos in several of her YouTube videos since 2023.
The facts: As the sitting president of the country, Marcos enjoys presidential immunity. In a Philippine Daily Inquirer column, retired Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio said that under Philippine law, the President “enjoys immunity from suit and cannot be investigated or prosecuted for any criminal offense” while he remains in office.
In the column, Carpio cited the unanimous 2019 En Banc decision in Leila de Lima v. President Rodrigo Duterte, where the Supreme Court reaffirmed the immunity of a sitting president, quoting the 2006 case of David v. Macapagal-Arroyo:
“Settled is the doctrine that the President, during his tenure of office or actual incumbency, may not be sued in any civil or criminal case, and there is no need to provide for it in the Constitution or law. It will degrade the dignity of the high office of the President, the head of State, if he can be dragged into court litigations while serving as such. Furthermore, it is important that he be freed from any form of harassment, hindrance or distraction to enable him to fully attend to the performance of his official duties and functions.”
Carpio concluded in his column that investigatory and prosecutory authorities “cannot—by law, jurisprudence, and practice—investigate or prosecute a sitting President while he remains in office.”
No official sources: The video did not provide any evidence for its claim that PDEA released proof of Marcos’ involvement in illegal drugs, leading to his alleged arrest. The agency has not made any such announcement on its official Facebook page.
Drug use allegations: The President has long been hounded by claims of alleged drug use. In July 2024, a video circulated of Marcos allegedly using drugs, which a deepfake detector flagged as “suspicious.” Former president Rodrigo Duterte has also made multiple accusations, without proof, of Marcos being a drug addict. – Lorenz Pasion/Rappler.com
Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. You may also report dubious claims to the #FactsFirstPH tipline by messaging Rappler on Facebook or Newsbreak via Twitter direct message. You may also report through our Viber fact check chatbot. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.