A Facebook post shows former president Rodrigo Duterte arriving at an airport with family members, implying his return to the Philippines. This is fake and created using artificial intelligence.
The fake post published on Sept. 18 carries the caption:
“Halaka totoo ba ito uuwi na sila #NewsUpdate #facebook #Duterte2028 #Duterte
(Oh my, is this true, they are going home now #NewsUpdate #facebook #Duterte2028 #Duterte).”
The graphic itself features text overlays reading:
“Happy ba kayo
Uuwi na kami
(Are you happy
We are going home).”
The image depicts the former president walking through what appears to be an airport terminal, flanked by his children, Vice President Sara Duterte and Davao City Rep. Paolo “Pulong” Duterte, his long-time partner Honeylet Avanceña and their daughter Veronica “Kitty” Duterte. The graphic is topped by an emblem labeled “SOLID DUTERTE” and shows an airport backdrop displaying signs for “Philippine Airlines” and “Arrivals.”
A review of the image confirms key visual indicators of AI manipulation. The former president’s face was lifted from the photographs taken during his first in-person appearance before the International Criminal Court on Sept. 16 and composited onto the figure in the graphic. Additionally, the eyes of his surrounding family members appear lifeless, which is a common hallmark of AI-generated images.
VERA Files Fact Check ran the image through multiple detection tools to confirm the manipulation. Hive Moderation found the photo 99.8% likely to be AI-generated, while SightEngine scored it at 99%. Both IsThisAI and DeepAI classified the image as synthetic, returning an “AI-edited” assessment with 79% confidence and a 79% AI likelihood, respectively. ImageWhisperer also classified the graphic as AI-generated. In contrast, WasItAI returned an outlier result, indicating that no AI was used in creating the image.
Despite the visual red flags, several social media users believed the post was genuine, leaving comments expressing relief and support:
“thank uLORD if it is true nawa nga we are all happy tatay DIGong be safe and good luck GOD bless us all
(Thank you, Lord, if this is true, hopefully so. We are all happy. Tatay Digong, be safe and good luck. God bless us all).”
“Our great hero is go home in Davao tnx god……
“Yes! That’s good sir and hope you will get rest ! We love you tatay digong! Your the best President in the Philippines”
The former president has not returned to the Philippines. Duterte remains detained at the Scheveningen facility in The Hague after the International Criminal Court Trial Chamber III rejected anew his latest plea for interim release, citing flight risk and potential witness interference ahead of his scheduled trial on Nov. 30.
The fabricated image surfaced two days after Duterte attended the third status conference in his case before the ICC Trial Chamber III.
Posted by FB page Solid Sarah Duterte Supporters (Solid Pres Bongbong), the post has so far garnered 2,026 reactions; 376 comments; and 95 shares.
