Posts use AI-generated visuals to exploit division about Philippine electricity subsidies

"[Point of view]: 4PS member, free electricity borne by consumers," says Tagalog-language text over a TikTok video shared on April 28, 2026.

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, or 4Ps, is a decades-long poverty reduction scheme by the Philippine government (archived link). Grants for food, health and education -- which are subject to several conditions -- are issued to qualified families.

The TikTok video appears to show an air conditioning unit on the corrugated iron wall of a makeshift structure.

A similar claim was shared on Instagram on April 29, alongside an image appearing to show grant recipients holding up new aircon units given to them for "free from the government".

Tagalog-language text above the image sarcastically says: "So they have 8k (pesos) and an air conditioner. Must not let the indolent go hungry and swelter in the heat."

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Screenshots of the false posts captured on May 8, 2026, with AI symbols and red Xs added by AFP

The video and image were also shared elsewhere in similar TikTok and Facebook posts.

"In the Philippines, 4Ps receive a 100 percent discount on their electricity while taxes are added to middle class earners," read a comment on one of the posts. 

Another said: "You get to have split type aircon units while I only have a fan at home so I can pay my bills. You're all shameless!"

The posts circulated after social media users posted copies of their electricity bills in April, the third month of successive power rate spikes (archived here, here, here and here).

Most zeroed in on "other charges" that have been included in the bill for years (archived link). One of those charges helps subsidise the power bills of qualified poor households in the country that consume less than 100 kWh of electricity per month (archived link). These may include those under the 4Ps grant programme.

While the power bill subsidy is mandated by law, it is not funded by the government (archived link). Instead, households that do not qualify for the subsidy pay 0.01 pesos per month to cover the amount needed (archived link).

The video and image circulating on social media, however, do not show grant recipients benefitting from the subsidy.

A closer analysis of the visuals show they are AI-generated.

The first few frames of the falsely shared video include a diamond-shaped icon in the bottom-right corner -- the watermark for Google's Gemini AI model.

Further analysis using Google's SynthID Detector, a tool to identify AI-generated content, confirmed with a "very high" degree of confidence that it was created using the tech company's AI tools (archived link).

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Screenshot of results from Google's SynthID tool, with the Gemini watermark highlighted in blue by AFP

The falsely shared image also contains visual errors commonly found in AI-generated content. 

For example, an individual in the second row appears to have another face morphing into hers while the fingers of a woman in the front row are too long and appear to wrap around the bottom edge of an aircon unit.

The logo for the 4Ps programme on the banner in the background does not match the programme's actual logo  (archived link).

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Screenshot of AI-generated photo with visual inconsistencies highlighted in red by AFP

The social welfare agency said in a statement on Facebook on April 30, that the claim is "not true" and only intends to "propagate wrong information" (archived link).

"What we want is for us to be united, and not contribute in widening the social gap. There shouldn't be issues between and among sectors in our society," social welfare spokesperson Irene Dumlao said about the false information on May 7 (archived link).

AFP has previously debunked another false claim about Philippine social welfare programmes that utilised AI-generated visuals.