Netizens are circulating images showing floodwaters and trash around the L-shaped flood barriers installed in Quezon City by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority. These photos are edited.
Starting July 11, several Facebook pages and users shared three photos purportedly showing floodwaters accumulating around the barriers, making it appear that the technology failed to contain flooding.
One of the posts carried the caption:
“Parang wala namang ganap ang mga barrier ng MMDA (It seems like the MMDA barriers aren’t really serving any purpose).”
Another post bore the caption:
“Galit sa Rally Anti korapsyon kesyo Perwisyo daw, Pero nong binaha na ng mga basura Tahimik yarn (They’re angry at anti-corruption rallies claiming they cause a nuisance, yet they stay silent when the place gets flooded with trash).”
These photos are altered. The original photos published by media organization The Philippine Star do not show flooding or pieces of trash surrounding the barriers.
On July 10, The Philippine Star‘s official FB page posted a set of photos showing the MMDA’s flood barriers installed at Gate 4 of Camp Aguinaldo along EDSA in Quezon City to help control flooding amid the onslaught of Tropical Storm Inday.
Images of floodwaters and trash were digitally edited around the barriers.
The MMDA’s official FB page posted an advisory on July 11 labeling the photos as “fake news” and advising netizens to get information only from official and trusted sources.
VERA Files reached out to the Deepfakes Analysis Unit of the India-based Trusted Information Alliance to determine if the photos were manipulated using AI.
The unit ran the three photos through seven AI-detection tools but only one of them, AI or Not, detected AI tampering with a “55% likely deepfake” result for one of the images. The rest – Google SynthID, Imagewhisperer, Sightengine, WasitAI, OpenAI image classifier and Hive AI image and deepfake classifier – did not detect AI manipulations in the photos.
Further, DAU noted some visual discrepancies in the fake images such as the water displacement being too little compared to the fast movement of the cars in the photos, as well as the bad quality of the images, which could be deliberate to “making it very difficult to discern visual artefacts.”
“In a couple of images, the cars seem to be moving fast; enough for the motion blur to be seen. Still, the water ought to be displaced a lot more given the speed of the vehicles. In the images, only little displacement can be seen,” the DAU added.
The altered images circulated a day after the MMDA installed the L-shaped flood barriers on EDSA near Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.
In a July 13 interview with broadcaster Ted Failon and DJ Chacha, MMDA Chair Romando Artes clarified that the new technology, procured from Japan and delivered to the country a few months ago, encloses floodwater and diverts it to a specific area to ensure efficient traffic flow.
While Artes said the technology is “effective,” citing good feedback from its use in Parañaque City, he admitted that the agency has yet to perfect its implementation and that he continues to consult with Japanese experts to make sure these are used effectively.
VERA Files has debunked other pieces of disinformation related to flooding in the Philippines.
At least 11 posts by FB users and pages such as Inday Mory (created on June 15, 2021), Boss Dada (created on Oct. 12, 2024) and Banat News (created on May 22, 2022 as DU30 News) that carried the fake images have so far collectively garnered 27,467 reactions, 4,544 comments and 3,702 shares.
