Philippine politicians share AI-generated interviews supporting VP Duterte
- Published on June 18, 2025 at 08:58
- 3 min read
- By Lucille SODIPE, AFP Philippines
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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.
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.
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).
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.
AFP has previously debunked misinformation about Duterte's impeachment here and here.
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