Manila: Senator Jinggoy Estrada denied a “fake news” story that was spread online about his alleged arrest for failed smuggling of money to the US.

“That is absolutely not true. I’ve been seen by a number of Filipinos and they were happy to see me; they even took pictures of me. That story is incredible to say the least,” said Estrada in a statement, after his staff in Manila notified him about the story.

Estrada said he would return to the Philippines after his short visit to the US which began over the weekend. In the US, his wife would undergo a medical check up for a lump in her breast.

What’s News, a satirical news website, said that Estrada who came in from Hong Kong was accosted at the San Francisco International Airport because he had a big lump on his chest. His wife was allegedly not with him.

The story quoted Estrada as saying that he has developed his chest muscles, when asked about his bulging chest.

The satirical news added, “But it turns out, his wife was not with him on the trip, and it was the senator instead who had a lump on his breast.”

After his purported body inspection, the bogus story quoted San Francisco International Airport security head Trevor Philip Ogg as saying, “We counted millions worth of Pesos that we suspect belongs to the Filipinos.”

The pesos were allegedly hidden inside Estrada’s “muscles and skin”.

The story was circulated on Facebook and other social media network.

Estrada, two other opposition senators, several congressmen, and former appointed officials are facing plunder charges before the Ombudsman in the Philippines.

They were accused of approving the release of their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), with the help of a private operator, Janel Lim Napoles, to fake development projects and non-operating non-government organisations.

The senators allegedly got back 50 per cent of the fund, Napoles, 40 per cent, and other government officials, 10 per cent.

The court allowed Estrada to accompany his wife for a medical check up in the US.

Napoles is also set to appear before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.

She has been detained at police headquarters in southern Luzon for a different crime she has allegedly committed: illegal detention of a relative who became one of 10 whistle-blowers on the alleged scam.

Since last August, outraged Filipinos have been holding rallies against the alleged misuse of congressional development funds.