Facebook posts are circulating an image that supposedly shows resigned Ako Bicol Partylist representative Zaldy Co in Portugal after allegedly leaving the country amid corruption allegations. This is fake.
On Oct. 6, the spurious posts first emerged and one of them bore the following caption:
“Zaldy Co nahuli cam na naglalakad sa Portugal, akala namin may sakit ka nagpapagamot at naka-wheelchair. Hindi ka pwedeng makatago kasi kahit saang sulok ng mundo may Pinoy.
(Zaldy Co caught on cam walking around Portugal, I thought you were sick and wheelchair-bound? You can’t hide because there are Filipinos in all corners of the world).“
The posts featured two photos showing a first-person view of Co, who was also the former House appropriations chair, seemingly trying to block a camera from taking his photo while walking on a street.
A reverse image search revealed that these photos were generated using artificial intelligence.
The photos were first published on FB group AI Prompt Party – an online community of tech-enthusiasts “exploring the limitless possibilities of AI-generated images and videos” – on Oct. 3 by a user who gave out the full prompt they specifically used to generate the image.
Part of the prompt read: “A hyper-realistic candid photo of a man [uploaded photo] walking quickly in sideway, reaching out his hand toward the camera as if to block the camera, trying to avoid being photographed. The shot looks rushed and unsteady as the man walking sideway, captured on a phone camera with noticeable blur and shakiness…”
VERA Files Fact Check tested out this prompt using Gemini, Google’s AI assistant which offers a variety of AI functions – including image generation. The prompt result showed a very similar image shown by the original FB group post and the other spurious posts spreading it.
The AI-generated images spread after Co, who has been out of the country for some time now, was invited by the Senate to appear before the Blue Ribbon Committee before the probe into the anomalous flood control projects were suspended “until further notice.”
(Related: FACT CHECK: Zaldy Co, Martin Romualdez NOT arrested)
At least three FB users spread the viral images without putting out a disclaimer that these were generated using AI, collectively garnering over 85,700 reactions, 23,100 comments and 21,180 shares.
