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Khaleej Times
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Khaleej Times
AI fakes duel over Sara Duterte impeachment in Philippines
Days after the Philippine Senate declined to launch the impeachment trial of the country's vice president, two interviews with Filipinos arguing for and against the move went viral. Neither were real. The schoolboys and elderly woman making their cases were AI creations, examples of increasingly sophisticated fakes possible with even basic online tools. "Why single out the VP?", a digitally created boy in a white school uniform asks, arguing that the case was politically motivated. The House of Representatives impeached Sara Duterte in early February on charges of graft, corruption and an alleged assassination plot against former ally and running mate President Ferdinand Marcos. A guilty verdict in the Senate would result in her removal from office and a lifetime ban from Philippine politics. But after convening as an impeachment court on June 10, the senior body immediately sent the case back to the House, questioning its constitutionality. Duterte ally Senator Ronald dela Rosa shared the video of the schoolboys -- since viewed millions of times -- praising the youths for having a "better understanding of what's happening" than their adult counterparts. The vice president's younger brother Sebastian, mayor of family stronghold Davao, said the clip proved "liberals" did not have the support of the younger generation. When the schoolboys were exposed as digital creations, the vice president and her supporters were unfazed. "There's no problem with sharing an AI video in support of me. As long as it's not being turned into a business," Duterte told reporters. "Even if it's AI... I agree with the point," said Dela Rosa, the one-time enforcer of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte's drug war. - Five minutes' work - The video making the case for impeachment -- also with millions of views -- depicts an elderly woman peddling fish and calling out the Senate for failing to hold a trial. "You 18 senators, when it's the poor who steal, you want them locked up immediately, no questions asked. But if it's the vice president who stole millions, you protect her fiercely," she says in Tagalog. Both clips bore a barely discernible watermark for the Google video-generation platform Veo. AFP fact-checkers also identified visual inconsistencies, such as overly smooth hair and teeth and storefronts with garbled signage. The man who created the fish peddler video, Bernard Senocip, 34, told AFP it took about five minutes to produce the eight-second clip. Reached via his Facebook page, Senocip defended his work in a video call, saying AI characters allowed people to express their opinions while avoiding the "harsh criticism" frequent on social media. "As long as you know your limitations and you're not misleading your viewers, I think it's fine," he said, noting that -- unlike the Facebook version -- he had placed a "created by AI" tag on the video's TikTok upload. While AFP has previously reported on websites using hot-button Philippine issues to generate cash, Senocip said his work was simply a way of expressing his political opinions. The schoolboy video's creator, the anonymous administrator of popular Facebook page Ay Grabe, declined to be interviewed but said his AI creations' opinions had been taken from real-life students. AFP, along with other media outlets, is paid by some platforms including Meta, Google and TikTok for work tackling disinformation. 'Grey area' Using AI to push viewpoints via seemingly ordinary people can make beliefs seem "more popular than they actually are", said Jose Mari Lanuza of Sigla Research Center, a non-profit organisation that studies disinformation. "In the case of the impeachment, this content fosters distrust not only towards particular lawmakers but towards the impeachment process." While some AI firms have developed measures to protect public figures, Jose Miguelito Enriquez, an associate research fellow at Nanyang Technological University, said the recent Philippine videos were a different animal. "Some AI companies like OpenAI previously committed to prevent users from generating deepfakes of 'real people', including political candidates," he said. "But... these man-on-the-street interviews represent a grey area because technically they are not using the likeness of an actual living person." Crafting realistic "humans" was also getting easier, said Dominic Ligot, founder of Data and AI Ethics PH. "Veo is only the latest in a string of rapidly evolving tools for AI media generation," he said, adding the newest version produced "smoother, more realistic motion and depth compared to earlier AI video models". Google did not reply when AFP asked if they had developed safeguards to prevent Veo from being used to push misinformation. For Ligot, guardrails around the swiftly evolving technology are a must, warning AI was increasingly being used to "influence how real people feel, pressure decision-makers and distort democratic discourse".
AFP
18-06-2025
- Politics
- AFP
Philippine politicians share AI-generated interviews supporting VP Duterte
The video -- published on June 14, 2025 on TikTok -- appears to show three students criticising the vice president's impeachment during street interviews. They can be heard saying in Tagalog that the attempt to remove her from office is "politically motivated" and "singling out the vice president". It has been viewed over 590,000 times and has spread elsewhere on the platform. Senator Ronald Dela Rosa -- who served as the Philippines' police chief under former president Rodrigo Duterte -- and Davao City's incoming vice mayor and Sara Duterte's brother, Sebastian Duterte, also shared the clip, saying it shows she has the youth's support. Image Screenshots of the AI-generated video shared by Dela Rosa and Sebastian Duterte, taken on June 16 The House of Representatives passed a resolution on June 11 certifying that the impeachment trial against the vice president complied with the constitution, after days of wrangling in the Senate that had raised fears the trial process was headed for derailment (archived link). The House impeached her in early February on charges of graft, corruption and an alleged assassination plot against one-time ally and former running mate President Ferdinand Marcos. The Philippines' 24 senators will serve as jurors and decide whether she should be removed from office. But the interviews show signs they were made with AI. A closer inspection of the footage shows a "Veo" watermark on the lower right-hand side of the frame -- a video generator platform from Google DeepMind (archived link). The app's website says its latest version allows users to "add sound effects, ambient noise, and even dialogue" to generate audio natively. Image Screenshot of the AI-generated video with the "Veo" watermark highlighted A reverse image search shows the clip was originally published on a Facebook page called Ay Grabe (archived link). A review of the Facebook page shows similar AI-generated video clips bearing the same watermark. The page, which posted content showing support for the Marcos-Duterte tandem in the 2022 presidential vote, describes itself currently as one that "features ideas, opinions, news, stories and events through the use of AI" (archived link). Image Screenshot of the AY GRABE Facebook page and similar AI-generated clips it has published. The video also bears errors commonly seen in AI-generated images. Text on the clothing, vehicles and signage on storefronts shows random letters and characters that do not form an actual word. The hair and teeth of the interviewees look overly smooth. In one shot, vehicles can be seen moving in opposite directions alternately. Image Screenshot of visual details in the AI-generated image highlighted in red by AFP AFP has previously debunked misinformation about Duterte's impeachment here and here.
South China Morning Post
11-06-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
How Philippines' Sara Duterte won round 1 of impeachment battle
Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio has won round one of her impeachment battle after her allies in the Senate tossed back the bid to the Lower House on claims it was 'defective' and 'unconstitutional'. The unprecedented move on Tuesday, which was settled by a vote of 18-5, has triggered an intense debate online about the senators' actions and Duterte-Carpio's political future. 'I think, for now, Sara has momentum even if the president still has three years left in his term of office,' political risk analyst Rolando Llamas told This Week in Asia, referring to the country's leader, Ferdinand Marcos Jnr. There has been widespread speculation that Duterte-Carpio is expected to contest the 2028 presidential election, and her ally, Senator Ronald 'Bato' Dela Rosa, told his colleagues on Tuesday that the impeachment trial was meant to derail that. But whether she could clinch the presidency even if she were to escape impeachment would depend on her support from youth and millennial voters, with these groups seen as more demanding of accountability from officials, according to Llamas. This demographic enabled the Akbayan party list group to unexpectedly win the recent Senate midterm elections, with Francis Pangilinan and Bam Aquino, two opposition senators who are not allied with either the Duterte family or Marcos Jnr, coming into office, according to Llamas.
South China Morning Post
11-06-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Philippines' Duterte-Carpio staves off impeachment trial after Senate vote
Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio has won round one of her impeachment battle after her allies in the Senate tossed back the bid to the Lower House on claims it was 'defective' and 'unconstitutional'. The unprecedented move on Tuesday, which was settled by a vote of 18-5, has triggered an intense debate online about the senators' actions and Duterte-Carpio's political future. 'I think, for now, Sara has momentum even if the president still has three years left in his term of office,' political risk analyst Rolando Llamas told This Week in Asia, referring to the country's leader, Ferdinand Marcos Jnr. There has been widespread speculation that Duterte-Carpio is expected to contest the 2028 presidential election, and her ally, Senator Ronald 'Bato' Dela Rosa, told his colleagues on Tuesday that the impeachment trial was meant to derail that. But whether she could clinch the presidency even if she were to escape impeachment would depend on her support from youth and millennial voters, with these groups seen as more demanding of accountability from officials, according to Llamas. This demographic enabled the Akbayan party list group to unexpectedly win the recent Senate midterm elections, with Francis Pangilinan and Bam Aquino, two opposition senators who are not allied with either the Duterte family or Marcos Jnr, coming into office, according to Llamas.
SBS Australia
06-06-2025
- Politics
- SBS Australia
DOH concerned about the surge of HIV cases among Filipino youth
HIV cases in the Philippines have increased to 500% among Filipino youths aged 15-25 years old. On the third and final reading, the proposed 200 peso daily minimum wage hike has passed with 172 in favor, no opposition and one abstained. Senator Ronald dela Rosa has filed a resolution to junk the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte. Indigenous leaders from Australia and the Philippines have met for the Indigenous Resource Governance Summit in the Philippines. SBS Filipino 06/06/2025 08:10 📢 Where to Catch SBS Filipino
