The viral claim that a Pres. Gustavo Fring and Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte will conduct joint oil exploration around Davao to assure a stable supply for the city is fake and comes from satirical pages and accounts.
Gustavo Fring is a fictional character in award-winning television series Breaking Bad. He is played by actor Giancarlo Esposito.
In the photo is Esposito in one of the scenes from Breaking Bad, alongside henchman Mike Ehrmantraut, played by Jonathan Banks.
The current president of Colombia is Gustavo Preto. There is no country named Columbia.
As of April 21, 2026, a post by Facebook user Juan Pablo has received 196k shares, 1.1k comments, and at least 4.3k reactions.
The social media card, which has spread through at least three different accounts, also has several indicators or red flags. It imitates the format of the Inquirer.net’s social media cards, and thus appears legitimate.
The post is labeled INQIURER.NET, with the letters U and I interchanged.
The Juan Pablo post was first uploaded on April 18, 2026, at 11:01 a.m., according to publicly available upload information. It reads:
MAYOR BASTE DUTERTE AT COLUMBIA PRES. GUSTAVO FRING | MAGSASAGAWA NG JOINT EXPLORATION NG PETROLYO PARA SA DAVAO CITY (Mayor Baste Duterte and Columbia President Gustavo Fring to conduct joint oil exploration in Davao City)
Ang detalye ng nakatakdang joint exploration sa pagitan ng gobyerno ni Columbia President Gustavo Fring at ni Davao City Mayor Baste Duterte. Ang proyektong ito ay naglalayong maghanap ng mga bagong deposito ng petrolyo sa paligid ng Davao upang masiguro ang sapat at matatag na supply ng enerhiya para sa lungsod. Ang nasabing exploration ay isang malaking hakbang tungo sa pag-unlad ng lokal na industriya at inaasahang magdadala ng mas maraming oportunidad at murang panggatong para sa mga taga-Davao. (The detailed plan for the scheduled joint exploration between the government of Columbian President Gustavo Fring and Davao City Mayor Baste Duterte. This project aims to search for new petroleum deposits around Davao to ensure an adequate and stable energy supply for the city. The said exploration is a major step toward developing the local industry and is expected to bring more opportunities and cheaper fuel for the people of Davao.)
The post was then hashtagged with the following:
A second post, by a user Mary Grace Piattos, was posted at 1:02 p.m. on the same day on Facebook Group OFW Around the World, with the same exact caption. We could not independently determine whether both posts were posted by one user managing two accounts.
Mary Grace Piattos appears to be a nod on one of the alleged fictional signatories implicated in a controversy involving Vice President Sara Duterte.
User Booster Arcee likewise posted the same graphic on Facebook Group House of Representa-thieves: Butasang Pambulsa at 5:25 p.m. of the same day.
Judging by the reactions on all three posts, it appears that most netizens who reacted to the post found it funny, with 3.9k finding the post by Juan Pablo funny, while at least 17k found Booster Arcee’s posts funny.
However, the one posted by Mary Grace Piattos appeared to have more Like reacts, at 141 Likes as of April 21, 2:30 p.m., than 94 Laugh reacts.
As of Tuesday, Apr. 21, the post by Booster Arcee appears to have been deleted, with the profile now locked. His past posts can still be viewed at the House of Representa-thieves: Butasang Pambulsa page and are mostly satirical humor.
By law, cities like Davao cannot directly be part of a joint exploration, which is under the purview of national government agencies such as the Department of Energy, according to Republic Act No. 7638 or the Department of Energy Act of 1992.
The law, however, mandates a revenue sharing between energy players and host local government units. To date, there is no known source of oil in Davao City and neighboring areas.
As with all our reports, MindaNews welcomes fact-check leads or suggestions from the public. (Yas D. Ocampo / MindaNews)
