Several netizens are circulating a supposed photo of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in a hospital bed, wearing an oxygen mask. This image is altered. It is not the president shown in the photo.
Since Jan. 28, Facebook users have been sharing the manipulated photo purportedly depicting the president to be very sick.
Some copies of the photo carried the text:
“Patuloy na nagpapagaling si Pres. Bongbong Marcos sa kanyang sakit na diverticulitis (Pres. Bongbong Marcos continues to recover from his diverticulitis disease). BBM Health UPDATE.”
A copy posted on Jan. 31 also bore an inset photo of presidential son and House Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos supposedly crying and quoted as saying:
“PLEASE PRAY FOR MY DAD.”
This photo was manipulated using artificial intelligence. A stock photo showing a different man in a hospital bed was altered to make it appear that it was Marcos Jr., when he was hospitalized last January.
A reverse image search led VERA Files to three stock photo websites hosting the original image, which shows an elderly Asian man lying with an oxygen mask.
The president’s face was overlaid onto the man’s face to mislead netizens.
VERA Files reached out to the Deepfakes Analysis Unit of the India-based Misinformation Combat Alliance to further check if the photo was altered using AI.
DAU ran the photo in seven AI-detection tools.
Four of them – AIorNot, Sightengine, Image Whisperer and Google Synth ID – showed high confidence that the image was altered using AI. On the other hand, Hive AI image and deepfake classifier showed 3.9% possibility of AI use, while Was itAI and IsitAI did not detect AI usage at all.
DAU further noted discrepancies in the photo such as the subject’s nose being non-existent.
“The subject’s nose is literally gone in the image. No nostrils seem present; as if the nasal aperture disappeared inside the oxygen mask placed on his face,” the DAU said.
They also pointed out the oxygen cylinder having weird edges, which suggest a bad photo edit.
The doctored image began circulating six days after Palace Press Officer Claire Castro announced that the president was hospitalized after experiencing discomfort.
In videos uploaded by the Presidential Communications Office on Jan. 22, Marcos himself confirmed that he was diagnosed with diverticulitis, but in a health update later on, he said he has been doing well.
The fabricated photo circulated the same time a fake medical report of the president made rounds online. VERA Files has debunked other disinformation related to Marcos Jr.’s health, ranging from kidney problem rumors to claims of him being rushed to the emergency room.
Health-related disinformation targeting the president persists as he and Vice President Sara Duterte face impeachment complaints at the House of Representatives. This is the first time in Philippine political history that the top two highest officials of the land are both facing impeachment raps.
At least eight posts by FB users bearing the altered photo collectively garnered 29,425 reactions; 16,836 comments; and 2,252 shares.
