A video of Palace Press Officer Claire Castro supposedly apologizing to the Dutertes and throwing President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. under the bus is circulating online. The video is fake and manipulated using artificial intelligence.
On Dec. 14, a Facebook user posted a 56-second reel showing his reaction overlaid on Castro’s supposed apology video. The video bore the text:
“Claire Castro nag-sorry sa mga Duterte at may ibinulgar. BBM is over na daw totoo kaya ito (Claire Castro apologized to the Dutertes and revealed something. BBM is over, could this possibly be true)?”
At the start, the man can be seen and heard saying:
“Atty. Claire Castro humingi ng tawad sa pamilyang Duterte at bumaliktad. Tingnan natin ‘tong video na ‘to (Atty. Claire Castro apologized to the Duterte family and shifted. Let’s watch this video).”
The rest of the video shows Castro during a Malacañang press briefing where she supposedly made these remarks:
“Uulitin ko, buong puso kong ihahatid ang aking taos-pusong paghingi ng tawad. Vice President Sara Duterte at sa pamilya Duterte, sana mapatawad niyo po ako.
Magandang araw, Pilipinas. Hawak ko ngayon ang mahalagang papel na magpapatunay na ang mga Marcos ay sangkot sa nangyayaring korapsyon. Yes, may korapsyon na nagaganap sa ating bansa at ako’y natatakot sa mga banta na maaaring ikakasama sa akin at sa ating bansa. Kaya nananawagan ako sa mga Pilipino at sa pamilya Duterte na sana ako’y matulungan.
Nagkamali ako sa pagkampi dahil sa milyun-milyong salaping ibinabayad sa akin. Kaya tutuldukan ko na ang kamaliang ito. Ang papel na ito ang magiging susi upang wakasan ang kanilang kasamaan. Tama na. No Marcos at all. Marcos over.
(I repeat, I wholeheartedly offer my sincere apology. Vice President Sara Duterte and the Duterte family, I hope you can forgive me.
Good morning, Philippines. I am now holding an important document that will prove that the Marcoses are involved in the ongoing corruption. Yes, there is corruption going on in our country and I am afraid of the threats that may harm me and our country. So I call on the Filipinos and the Duterte family to please help me.
I made a mistake in taking sides because of the millions of money being paid to me. So I will correct this mistake. This paper will be the key to ending their evils. Enough already. No Marcos at all. Marcos over.)”
This is fake. A clip from Castro’s press briefing in July was altered using AI to make it seem that she made those remarks.
Castro never apologized to the Dutertes
Castro, who has been a staunch critic of former president Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Sara Duterte, never apologized to the Duterte family.
A frame from Castro’s press briefing with the Office of Civil Defence and the Department of Foreign Affairs on July 18 was edited. Nowhere in the original video did Castro apologize or expose the Marcos administration’s supposed involvement in corruption.
To confirm that the July 18 video was indeed used in the manipulation, VERA Files first looked for visual clues and compared the fake video’s first frame with a screenshot from the actual press briefing. Castro’s clothes and accessories, as well as the podium lighting, match. A scan of the press briefings uploaded on RTVMalacañang’s YouTube channel also showed that Castro rarely repeats outfits. On the left side of the frame, hair strands are sticking out of her head, which can be seen in both the original and the manipulated videos.
Video shows signs of AI manipulation
VERA Files reached out to the Deepfakes Analysis Unit of the India-based Trusted Information Alliance to further check the circulating video’s veracity.
DAU ran the video through AI-detection tools.
Results from Hiya Audio Intelligence and Aurigin.ai, a Swiss deep-tech company with an advanced audio deepfake detection engine, classified the audio as AI-generated.
Hive AI deepfake detector also revealed that “several markers of manipulation have been traced to the subject’s face.”
DAU further noted that “almost halfway through the runtime, the lip movements exhibit a noticeable lag with the audio track” and the woman’s teeth were not very distinct which was noticeable as the camera zooms-in on her face in some frames.
Another visual discrepancy is the microphone on top of the lectern, which suddenly becomes a lapel mic in the latter half of the video.
The video was uploaded two days after plunder and graft complaints were filed at the Ombudsman against the vice president over her alleged misuse of P612.5-million confidential funds. Castro later denied claims about President Marcos’ involvement in the complaint, after lawyer and Partido Demokratiko Pilipino Deputy spokesperson Ferdinand Topacio accused the current administration as the complaint’s mastermind.
VERA Files has debunked other disinformation related to the Presidential Communications Office undersecretary.
The fake video uploaded by an FB user has so far garnered 29,000 reactions, 11,000 comments, 20,000 shares and 2.3 million views.
