HOAX: Duterte ‘fires’ hundreds of errant cops

Claim: Hundreds of cops cried after getting fired by President Rodrigo Duterte.

The blog airph.xyz, in their August 9 post, ran the headline, “Iyakan! Daan daang pulis sabay sinibak ni Pres. Duterte!”

The post has been shared 5 times in different Facebook pages and groups. These led to a combined total of 574 interactions and 574,241 followers as of August 12.

The claim has also been posted by two other blogs, autos.ptvbalita.com and newsupdates.altervista.org; and on dailymotion.com, a video-hosting website.

Rating: FALSE

The facts: President Duterte did not fire any cops. 

On August 7, in Malacañang, the President scolded 102 cops who were facing rape complaints and told them he would “review” their cases. He also said a “special unit” will be tasked to kill policemen involved in crime syndicates.

In fact, some of the cops allegedly urinated in front of a balete tree at the Malacañang grounds right after the exchange with the President. An embarrassed Philippine National Police (PNP) said it’s  looking into it.

And PNP chief Oscar Albayalde did sack some police officials days after this. But those fired were not the cops who met with the President. They were the policemen assigned to Lapinig, Samar, whose police station was raided by communist rebels. The PNP also sacked Pangasinan policemen  for underperforming.

Meanwhile, the embedded video is an August 8 CNN Philippines New Day report. It showed the President scolding the cops.

The blog airph.xyz is similar to the dubious blogs that Rappler has checked. It does not have an author, company profile, editorial board, and contact details. Its posts usually do not carry any note or summary but just an embedded video from a pro-Duterte YouTube channel. — Miguel Imperial/Rappler.com

If you suspect a Facebook page, group, account, a website, or an article is spreading false information, let Rappler know by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.