Former president Rodrigo Duterte (Arnold Quizol/ MANILA BULLETIN)

Majority congressmen are up in arms over the false reports that the Supreme Court (SC) tried to halt former president Rodrigo Duterte's arrest and subsequent turnover to the International Criminal Court (ICC) via a temporary restraining order (TRO).

Manila 1st district Rep. Ernix Dionisio Jr. and Zambales 1st district Rep. Jay Khonghun said the spread of this wrong information--which arguably added to the public's confusion when Duterte was being taken into custody by the International Police (Interpol)--further justifies the House of Representatives' efforts to pass a bill outlawing fake news.

"Yung TRO na sinasabi nilang meron na wala naman, yun talagang maling mali yun (The reports of a TRO issuance that later turned out to be false, that's a very wrong thing to do)," Dionisio said in a virtual press conference on Thursday, March 13.

"It will promote chaos eh, tsaka the image of our courts eh, especially [SC] (it will also tarnish the image of our courts, especially the SC), just because of some fake news," he said.

"That's why I commend the [SC], ang bilis nilang refute at sumagot sila agad (they quickly refuted it and addressed it). Let's not take advantage and use it politically," the Manila congressman added.

On Tuesday morning, March 11, members of the Interpol served an arrest warrant against Duterte in Manila. The former leader is facing a charge of crimes against humanity before the ICC at The Hague in connection with his bloody war on drugs. 

The allleged issuance of a TRO was then trumpted by Duterte's allies and supporters that evening even as the 79-year-old was loaded inside a waiting Gulfstream G550 aircraft at Villamor Airbase in Pasay City. 

The plane eventually flew out of the country at 11:03 p.m., with the reports of the TRO turning out to be hogwash.  

Khonghun said such tactic was "expected".

"Ineexpect na natin yan no. Napakarami nilang rason na sinasabi. Yun nga, napakagaling nila magpakalat ng fake news eh no (We were expecting that. They have endless reasons. That's it, they're really good at spreading fake news)," he said.

"Marami silang inilalabas na maling impormasyon no. So, dito natin nakikita na napaka-importante na magpasa tayo ng batas laban sa fake news. Yan nga yung ginagawa ng Kongreso ngayon para at least masabi natin na yung mga nag papakalat ng fake news, eh magkaroon ng pananagutan lalong lalo na sa mga sinasabi nila," Khonghun further said. 

(They're releasing a lot of false information. So here we see the importance of passing a law against fake news. And that's what Congress is doing right now, so that we can at least say that spreaders of fake news will have accountability for what they're saying.)