Videos from a supposed closed-circuit television footage showing former senator Antonio Trillanes IV talking to Ramil Madriaga in detention are circulating online. The clips were made using artificial intelligence.
On April 16, a Facebook page posted a 10-second video containing three short clips from a CCTV camera inside a cell where Trillanes was supposedly briefing Madriaga, a witness in the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte. Madriaga is currently detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City on kidnapping charges.
The post’s caption read:
“FLASH REPORT: BREAKING NEWS… BREAKING NEWS…CCTV Footage… TRILLANES, nakuhanan ng cctv na dumadalaw sa selda ni Ramil Madriaga (captured on CCTV visiting the cell of Ramil Madriaga)….”
Other FB pages and users posted copies and screenshots of the video, claiming Trillanes and Madriaga were rehearsing for the House hearings on the impeachment complaints against Duterte.
These clips are fake and created using Gemini, Google’s AI assistant that can also generate images.
Gemini’s four-pointed star watermark can be seen in one of the clips, confirming that these were generated using the tool.
VERA Files also noted other visual discrepancies in the clips that indicate their inauthenticity.
- Madriaga fades into the scene, reminiscent of a ghost, in one of the clips.
- The three clips were supposedly taken from the same camera, “CAM 4,” despite showing different angles.
- The timestamps of the three CCTV clips are the same and not moving, despite depicting different scenes in the men’s supposed conversation.
- Some background elements are inconsistent, such as the sink behind Madriaga in the second clip, suddenly moving to a different position in the last clip. The bed behind Trillanes disappeared in one of the clips.
The fake clips were circulated two days after Madriaga attended the House Committee on Justice’s hearing on the impeachment complaints against Duterte. During the hearing, Madriaga claimed that he “personally disposed” of the P125-million confidential funds in the Office of the Vice President within 24 hours in 2022, contradicting earlier reports that these were disbursed in 11 days.
Trillanes also appeared at the committee’s April 22 hearing, alleging that the vice president had been involved in corruption since she started in government, had hidden wealth from illegal means, and did not truthfully declare her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth. Trillanes further claimed that the other Duterte family members received hundreds of millions of pesos from a drug lord.
VERA Files has debunked other false claims targeting Trillanes as well as disinformation related to the impeachment raps filed against Duterte.
At least five posts by FB users and pages such as Tito Vlog Tv (created on July 29,2018 as The Lost Files) and Amaw Ka (Oct. 13, 2024) collectively garnered 10,585 reactions, 1,740 comments, 5,582 shares and 616,100 views.
