Photo from the press conference where "Nanay Shiela" could be seen holding two pictures. X/@soltaule

MANILA — A woman whom social media users have been savaging online lost two sons — one during the Duterte administration and another during that of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., a human rights lawyer said on Wednesday as she condemned the mockery of victims of rights violations.

The woman identified as "Nanay Sheila" had been the target of users who raised doubts on when her son who was in the photograph she was holding was killed. Some said he had been killed in 2024, when Marcos Jr. was already president.

'Buti pa siya inaresto, yung asawa ko binaril agad': Wife of EJK victim on Duterte's arrest

Photo of "Nanay Sheila" holding a photo of one of her sons. The photo has since gone viral on social media. Paige Javier, ABS-CBN News

Maria Sol Taule, a lawyer with rights group Karapatan, showed on social media platform X another picture from the press conference where Sheila could be seen holding photos of her two sons.

"I was at the presscon where rabid [Duterte] supporters and fake news peddlers attacked Nanay Shiela. They said she was holding a photo of her son killed during the time of Marcos and not Duterte," she said.

"Wrong, she was holding two photos of her sons here, both killed during the [Duterte] and Marcos admins," she also said.

"Shame on those who mock the victims," Taule said. "May you find a lifetime of misery."

The Marcos administration has announced a shift in strategy from the Duterte drug war but UP Diliman-based monitor Dahas PH tallies 934 reported drug-related killings under MArcos Jr. as of March 15.

The tally includes law enforcement personnel killed in operations.

Marcos Jr.: 'Extermination' never part of drug war strategy

Karapatan on Thursday said women relatives of drug war victims as well as lawyer Kristina Conti of the National Union of Peoples' Laywers have been the subject of hate speech online since former President Rodrigo Duterte and his drug war, where more than 6,000 were killed in acknowledged law enforcement operations, have returned to the headlines. 

"Not a few of the posts came in the form of death threats," Karapatan said.

"This form of harassment against the women relatives of victims is one of the most stark examples of the engendered impunity during the Duterte administration that continues under the current Marcos government," the group also said.

It added that "many others have yet to report cases of extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations" because of the fear of reprisal, including harassment online.

"When women speak up and call for justice for their loved ones, they are threatened with violence, discouraged with lies, and demeaned as women," Karapatan said.

Duterte may face more trouble after supporters spam ICC judge's social media, says lawyer

Conti, who has been working with drug war victims' families and who is accredited at the International Criminal Court as assistant to counsel, has become a "subject of disinformation, ridicule, sexist remarks, and threats", Karapatan also said.

It said the posts against the women members of Rise Up for Life and for Rights — an organization for drug war victims' families — and against Conti "are not simply disinformation" and are "well-funded and systematic, with a clear political agenda."

The group said Filipinos should “express their solidarity with the victims’ families, with Conti, and with “all others who have been targeted by these vicious attacks from Duterte’s troll armies.“