Former President Rodrigo Duterte and former Sen. Leila De Lima did not kiss during the Nov. 13 House quad committee hearing on the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, contrary to a manipulated vidoe that has gone viral on Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.
The altered video uploaded to Kai Alas’ Facebook account on Nov. 15 showed the two former government officials kissing each other accompanied by the caption:
Matinik talaga sa chix si tatay digz (Duterte is truly appealing to women)
Digz is short for Digong, one of Duterte's nicknames.
The kissing video gained traction when it was reposted on TikTok, including by @red.scorpion738, a Duterte supporter, on Nov. 16.
Filipino vlogger Boss Dada reacted to the video on the Ako Pinoy YouTube channel the following day, using a thumbnail that showed Duterte and De Lima about to kiss. He also flashed the 12-second video through his phone on the vlog.
Alas’ Facebook account is a humor page, but many pro-Duterte accounts like @red.scorpion678 reposted the video. Some users insulted De Lima for her appearance in the comment section. A user said:
Hindi (kakasa si) Digong sa dugong at kulubot na, gusto n’ya ‘yong batang-batang naka-Vicki Belo (Duterte will not give in to someone old and wrinkly, he prefers someone young and radiant).
The original video recorded by the ABS-CBN News shows Duterte raising a fist at De Lima after she said Duterte was lying about not knowing her. A similar video from a different angle was streamed online by the House of Representatives.
Deepware, a tool used to detect AI-generated manipulations, labeled the video “suspicious” with a 93% deepfake spotted while DeepFake-O-Meter, a media forensics tool, said there is a 99.1% likelihood that the content is AI-generated.
De Lima vehemently criticized Duterte’s drug war and extrajudicial killings. After being detained for six years for alleged links to the illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison, she was cleared of the three cases filed against her by Duterte on June 24.
Alas’ post has garnered more than 802,000 views with 4,500 reactions, 799 comments and 6,200 shares. His account was created on Feb. 20, 2010.
The video reposted on Facebook by Isaias Cansana Balat , a content creator who posts personal life updates and pro-Duterte content, on the same date at a later time has reached 2.6 million views, 11,000 shares and 1,200 comments.
@red.scorpion738’s post on TikTok, meanwhile, has gathered 1.4 million views, 19,500 hearts and 3,697 comments. The account has more than 22,000 followers.
The Ako Pinoy YouTube channel was created in 2017 and has 307,000 subscribers. The kissing video has collected 61,000 views, 1,500 likes and 208 comments. (FA, FAER)