FACT CHECK: Video of Baste Duterte calling out Benny Abante dozing off is AI-generated

Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte did not make the remark; it was impeachment court presiding officer Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero who noticed that Manila 6th District Representative Benny Abante was dozing off

AT A GLANCE

• A video falsely claims Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte criticized Congressman Benny Abante for dozing off during a Senate impeachment trial.
• Fact-checking reveals that Duterte did not make the statement attributed to him; it was actually Presiding Officer Francis Escudero who commented on Abante's behavior.
• The video has been flagged as AI-generated, with detection tools indicating a high likelihood of manipulation.

This is AI-generated. Read the article for full context. Report any errors.

Claim: Video shows Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte throwing shade at Manila 6th District Representative Benny Abante Jr. who was dozing off during Senate impeachment trial. 

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The video has already received 130,000 views, 1,100 reactions, 125 shares, and 30 comments as of this posting. It was posted on October 5, days after the mayor attended the impeachment trial as a hostile witness. 

Duterte can be seen in the video saying, “May iba sa’tin dito, patulog-tulog lang pero sinusuwelduhan (There are some of us here who just sleep on the job, yet still get paid).” 

The video portrays Duterte directly calling out Abante. A clip of the Manila 6th District congressman waking up after the call-out was also attached to the video. 

The text on the Facebook reel also reads, “Tulog pa more laki ng sweldo eh nataranta ka atras [Abante] (Keep on sleeping! And yet you earn a huge salary. You panicked, Abante).”

The facts: Duterte did not make the statement. No credible news reports quoted the Davao City mayor making the exact remark. It was the impeachment court presiding officer, Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, who noticed that the congressman was dozing off. 

“Before calling on Senator Joel Villanueva, may I ask Congressman Defensor, Congressman Barbers to kindly nudge Cong. Benny a bit?  It seems he’s tired.  He may want to rest somewhere but at least not right behind the witness,” Escudero said.

The call-out also did not happen while Duterte was on the witness stand. Escudero made the statement while senator-judges were asking Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) Division Chief Rendell Sopeña. 

AI-generated: Reverse image search did not show any credible video similar to the post. It only showed real photos of Duterte in the Senate impeachment trial. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) detection tools flagged the video as AI-generated. Hive Moderation detected 66.8% likelihood of being deepfake in the video. Decopy AI flagged the screenshot from the video as 60% likely to be AI-generated. In its analysis, it stated that the photo of Duterte was likely manipulated. 

“The image mostly suggests a human origin due to natural skin texture and depth of field, but some minor elements like the flat clothing texture and expression rigidity could hint at subtle AI enhancement or smoothing,” it stated. 

Duterte: The Davao City mayor appeared before the Senate impeachment court on September 29 as a hostile witness. He was asked about the contracts of the Davao City government with Gencorp, which is linked to the Vice President. Duterte maintained that he had no involvement in the contracts with the company.

Previous fact checks: Rappler has previously fact-checked similar AI-generated videos about public officials: 

• FACT CHECK: Duterte not back in PH; posts use AI-generated ‘airport’ photo 
• FACT CHECK: Video of Marcos saying Romualdez’s arrest is ‘staged’ is AI-generated 
• FACT CHECK: No official police mugshot of VP Sara; photos are AI-generated 
• FACT CHECK: No reports of Duterte ‘apology’ to Marcos; photo is AI-generated 
• FACT CHECK: Video of Marcos and Romualdez laughing about ‘fooling’ the public is AI-generated 
• FACT CHECK: Photo of De Lima sweeping litter at Rizal Park is AI-generated 
• FACT CHECK: Post uses AI-generated news report to falsely claim Duterte is back in PH 

– Angelee Kaye Abelinde/Rappler.com 

Angelee Kaye Abelinde is a student journalist based in Naga City, and an alumna of Rappler’s Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship 2024. 

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