FACT-CHECK: First lady was not photographed with ICC judge

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CLAIM: First lady Liza Araneta-Marcos was photographed with ICC Judge Iula Motoc.

 

RATING: FALSE

 

A previously debunked photo supposedly showing first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos with an International Criminal Court (ICC) judge has circulated again on Facebook, as the court decides whether former president Rodrigo Duterte should be tried for crimes against humanity.

Flagged content: The photo, which was reposted on March 7 by Facebook user Amelia Brillo Apurado, shows  Araneta-Marcos with two other women, including the person falsely identified as ICC Judge Iulia Motoc. 

  • A photo of Motoc, taken from the official ICC website, was added to the image to falsely point out similarities between her and the woman photographed with the first lady.
  • The caption read, “Kala cguro d maki|a|a Pag sa hangout kita ang fiz pag sa  hearing takip Ng hair buong fiz haha hu|ika dino ng the Hague    #FreeDuterteNow #iccjudge #follower #highlight” (They thought we wouldn’t recognize her when they hung out together. During the hearings, her hair covered her face. Haha, gotcha, dino of the Hague).

Our Debunk: The first lady has no confirmed ties with ICC judges.

  • The woman in the photo was Katrina Roman Quintas, owner of New York-based firm Quintas-Mayenberger Inc.
  • While similar claims have been fact-checked as early as March 2025, it continues to gain traction online as Duterte awaits the court’s decision to formally try him for crimes against humanity. 

Rewind: Fabricated narratives have hounded Duterte’s case ever since his March 2025 arrest.  

  • In November 2025, PressOne.PH found coordinated comments on the ICC’s official Facebook page. Such narratives attempted to frame Duterte’s arrest as a political stunt supposedly funded by the Marcoses. 
  • Analysis showed that these comment swarms made the court’s Duterte-related posts the most engaged content, generating more than 20 times the engagement of their other posts. 

Why we fact-checked this: As of writing, the post has gained 1,300 likes, 327 comments, and 887 shares. The post reached several pro-Duterte groups, which amplified the false claim.

  • Such narratives could potentially distract the public from the main issue of human rights violations under Duterte’s war on drugs by merely treating the whole situation as part of the Marcos-Duterte rivalry.

Spot the fake: Despite fact-checking efforts to reduce disinformation related to Duterte’s arrest, some narratives are being repurposed to continuously undermine the legitimacy of ICC’s legal proceedings and sow public distrust in the institution.

  • Duterte-allied politicians and influencers have also repeatedly questioned the ICC’s jurisdiction over Duterte’s case.  Savannah Lantay


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