MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court on Monday denied the authenticity of a fabricated document falsely attributed to its spokesperson, which claimed that the high tribunal received a petition backed by 16 million signatures calling for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s resignation.

“We categorically deny the authenticity of this document. No such statement has been issued by the Supreme Court Spokesperson,” the Supreme Court said in a statement on March 17.

The statement came after social media posts, particularly from Facebook accounts under the names “Choose Libungan” and “Bernard Flores Maicon,” spread false claims that the Supreme Court received the petition and scheduled an en banc session to discuss it.

“This is completely untrue. The Supreme Court has not received any such petition, and no en banc session is scheduled today for this matter,” the high court clarified.

The High Court also noted that this was not the first instance of disinformation circulating about the judiciary. 

On March 11, another false report claimed that the Court issued a temporary restraining order related to a separate case. The Court said these incidents would be investigated, and appropriate sanctions could be imposed on those responsible.

“The Supreme Court will investigate these incidents and take necessary measures, including the imposition of proper sanctions on those responsible,” the statement read.

The public was urged to verify any information purportedly from the Supreme Court and rely only on official announcements published on its website and verified social media accounts.

“We also caution against sharing unverified information and encourage the public to verify the authenticity of any statement claiming to be from the Supreme Court before disseminating it,” the Court said.

The issue stemmed from the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 on Tuesday morning last week following an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant related to alleged crimes against humanity during his administration’s war on drugs. 

Before the arrest, Duterte had been placed on Interpol’s Red Notice list.