A fake photo of an international airport supposedly constructed in “Isulan City,” Sultan Kudarat is making rounds on Facebook (FB).
Published on May 24, an FB user used the following caption for the the photo:
“[I]to na pagkakataon ng malalayo ang Lugar pwede ng mag sakay ng plane Kay may airport na (This is the chance for those from far places, you can now ride a plane because there’s already an airport).”
Another user claimed:
“May AIRPORT na sa isulan sana sa pag uwe ko ma open na to (Isulan already has an airport. I hope, once I come home, this is already open to the public..”
The viral photo is fake. First, Isulan is a municipality, not a city, in the province of Sultan Kudarat in Mindanao. It does not have an airport. Newly elected Mayor Bai Rihan Sakaluran released a statement on May 25 disproving such claims and warning her constituents to be wary of information they read online.
Sakaluran said:
“Wala po ako post o sinabi na magpapatayo po kami ng Airport sa Isulan. Wag po tayo agad-agad nagpapaniwala sa mga nakikita nating post lalo na kung hindi kilala ang page o account na nag post. Maloloko po kayo ng fake news
(I did not post or say any plans of constructing an airport in Isulan. Let’s not easily believe in posts we read online, especially if they’re from an unknown page or account. You will be deceived by fake news).”
A reverse image search of the viral photo did not show any results of its possible sources. However, upon running it through the artificial intelligence (AI) detector tool Hive Moderation, it revealed that there is a 99.6% chance the photo is AI-generated.
Posted by various FB users, the fake photo has so far garnered around 10,800 reactions, 1,143 comments and 2,147 shares.
