Filipino food vloggers are now targets of disinformation peddlers with Facebook pages impersonating Vanjo Merano, who is behind the Panlasang Pinoy vlog and website, claiming that he is endorsing a premium German non-stick pan at a discounted price. This is fake.
The clips, which first came out on Jan. 28, were generated using artificial intelligence.
Two other chefs, Mark Joseph “Marky” Bartolome and Chef Tatung Sarthou, were also used as endorsers of the 316L non-stick pan, with FB posts published since February and which remain active as of writing.
At least 18 reels lasting between 60 seconds to almost two minutes use the same template, in particular showing Merano and Bartolome cooking with the pan. These use audio supposedly of the chefs’ voice in the spiel:
“Isa sa pinakamalaking sikreto ko para sa laging masarap na pagluluto ang premium 316L German non-stick pan. May super bonggang promo tayo na 80% para sa malaking non-stick pan na ito. Ang original price na ito ay 4,000 pesos, pero ngayon, 679 pesos na lang bawat piraso.
(One of my biggest secrets for consistent delicious cooking is the premium 316L German non-stick pan. We have a huge promo with 80% off for this large non-stick pan. The original price was 4,000 pesos, but now, it’s only 670 pesos per piece).”
Clips spliced from Panlasang Pinoy and Chef Marky’s older videos were overlaid with an AI-generated image of the online personality talking at the bottom of the reel. However, the audio does not match the movement of the mouth of the mage. On the other hand, the Sarthou posts used an image of the chef holding the pan in the thumbnail but did not show him cooking in the clips.
The posts include a link that directs to a site asking for the personal information of netizens.
On March 7, Merano denied endorsing the pan in his official FB page, and warned the public to be discerning when buying products online. Bartolome and Sarthou both sent a text message to VERA Files Fact Check saying the posts are fabricated.
Merano, with 11 million followers, said he made the reel to warn his followers and the public that he had nothing to do with the bogus promotional videos stressing the trust he has built over the years was something he valued and needed to protect.
Asked to verify if he was promoting the cookware, Sarthou said: “Not at all. All fake. Sadly, we can’t control [it].”
Bartolome’s response was laced with humor. “Baka me makita kayong AI-generated video na nage-endorse ako ng wok na to, WAG KAYO MANIWALA. Unang-una, di ako ganyan kapayat at di ganyan ka-kinis mukha natin (You might see an AI-generated video of me endorsing this wok. DO NOT BELIEVE IT. First of all, I am not that thin, [and second], my skin is not that smooth)!”
Merano and Bartolome both support fact-checking efforts to take down fabricated posts that besmirch their reputation and ask netizens to report these impostor pages.
When Merano’s reels were run through Hive Moderation, the results showed a 97.6% likelihood that these are AI-generated, while Bartolome’s reels showed a 67.6% likelihood that it contains AI-generated or deepfake content. Sarthou’s image has a 99.4% likelihood of being artificially created.
VFFC has flagged numerous fake videos using public figures to sell and advertise various products online, including bogus ads for “honeycomb pans” that were circulated by impostor Marvin Agustin pages, debunked in August 2025.
There are four Facebook pages that have been actively posting these reels since late January, the most recent of which was on March 20.
Published by FB pages Non-stick Pan Philippines (created Dec. 31, 2025), Non-stick Pan Product PH (created April 15, 2025), Kusina Pinoy Store (created April 8, 2025), and Marvin’s Food PH (created Dec. 19, 2025). So far this year, these posts have collectively garnered over 3,130 reactions; 793 comments; and 46 shares.
