A photo supposedly depicting flooded low-lying communities in Cebu beneath a partially deforested mountain with unfinished structures after Typhoon Tino (international name: Kalmaegi) hit parts of the province is going viral online. This is fake.
While Typhoon Tino indeed left Cebu in massive deep flooding, the circulating photo on various social media platforms was likely generated using artificial intelligence.
The fake image was published by a user on X (formerly Twitter) as early as Nov. 6, and did not put any label or disclaimer that it was AI-generated. The caption stated:
“Cebu is drowning — not just in rain, but in greed. When developers strip our mountains bare and DENR looks away, floods become inevitable. It’s time to fight back. File a Writ of Kalikasan. Protect Cebu.”
From Nov. 6 to 7, several publishers on other social media platforms such as Threads and Facebook continued to make it appear the picture was real.
Two AI detection tools, Hive Moderation and WasItAI, flagged the photo of “Cebu is drowning” as being created by AI.
The image bears a visible logo of Gemini, Google’s “AI assistant,” at the lower right corner, a huge tell-tale sign suggesting it was made using AI.
The bogus photo surfaced on the same day Typhoon Tino exited the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Nov. 6. As of Nov. 9, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported that the official death toll from Typhoon Tino has soared to 224, while135 people are still missing.
While the picture was AI-generated, several news organizations have reported on the actual deadly flooding scenes during Typhoon Tino’s onslaught in Cebu. One video uploaded by an FB user on Nov. 4 showed what she described as “mocha-colored waters” that supposedly flowed from the Monterrazas de Cebu in Guadalupe, Cebu City.
The Monterrazas de Cebu, a mountainside residential project by celebrity engineer Slater Young, has once again come under public scrutiny after being linked to recent flooding in Cebu.
In a Nov. 7 statement, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources announced it will launch a “comprehensive on-site investigation” to determine, among others, whether the Monterrazas de Cebu project complies “with the conditions of its [environmental compliance certificate] and other environmental regulations.”
Posted by user @tagapagmulat on X, the AI-generated photo has so far garnered 16,000 reactions, 160 comments and 7,000 reposts on the platform as of writing. Other copies republished on Threads and FB have also received a significant user engagement, with some asking if the picture actually shows the controversial Monterrazas de Cebu project.
