A circulating graphic shows Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Rolando “Klarex” Uy visiting former House Speaker Martin Romualdez while under hospital arrest on Sept. 7. This is fake.
The thumbnail published on Sept. 8 carried the headline:
“Mibisita si Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Klarex Uy kang Martin Romualdez sa ospital aron personal nga kamustahon ang iyang kahimtang (Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Klarex Uy visited Martin Romualdez at the hospital to personally check on his condition).”
Romualdez was declared a person deprived of liberty after he was served an arrest warrant by officers of the Philippine National Police for plunder at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center on Monday.
The graphic that was altered using artificial intelligence carried this caption:
“Makita sa hulagway ang mayor nga nakiglamano kang Romualdez atol sa iyang pagbisita. Kamo, unsay inyong ikasulti sa pagbisita ni Mayor Klarex Uy kang Romualdez (The mayor can be seen in the picture with Romualdez during his visit. What would you say about Mayor Klarex Uy’s visit to Romualdez)?”
The original photo issued by the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group shows authorities taking fingerprints of Romualdez as part of the CIDG standard booking procedure.
The fake post also attached the logo of the Cagayan de Oro’s Information Office on the fabricated graphic. But the CDO Info Office released a “fake post, fake page alert” advisory to FB netizens, and posted a side-by-side comparison of the fake graphic and the original photo.
Law enforcers served Romualdez with an arrest warrant from the Sandiganbayan in his hospital room over his P7.4 billion plunder case from alleged kickbacks in flood control and other government projects.
Only Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla and other PNP officials oversaw Romualdez’s arrest.
With tightened security, no political personalities, members of the media, or relatives of Romualdez were present at the hospital overnight, a media report said.
VERA Files Fact Check ran the altered image through AI-detection tools. SightEngine flagged it as 99% likely AI-generated, IsThisAi reported 93% confidence that the image was AI edited, while DeepAi also detected 93% confidence in AI creation. Though these detection tools confirmed manipulation, Hive Moderation only returned a 25% result.
The image also showed tell-tale signs of AI-generation. Romualdez’s thumb appears to be incomplete and missing a fingernail while holding Uy’s hands.
The fake post by Facebook page BAYAN NEWs (created Sep. 17, 2021) has garnered 1,200 reactions, 428 comments, and 244 shares.
