The ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC) did not air a news report endorsing an investment platform, contrary to a fabricated video circulating on Facebook.
The altered video uploaded by Mustafa Net on March 12 shows an alleged ANC news report featuring spliced clips of businessman Enrique K. Razon and President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., making it appear as if they were endorsing the scheme. It carried the headline:
HIDDEN OPPORTUNITY: PBBM HAS HIDDEN A PLATFORM FOR ORDINARY CITIZENS TO EARN! 60,000 PESOS A DAY IS A REALITY!
The video opened with a clip of anchor Pia Gutierrez supposedly reporting about a “shocking revelation” from businessman Razon, claiming that the Marcos administration was hiding a platform where people could earn millions:
Shocking revelation from businessman Enrique K. Razon. He claims that the government, led by Bongbong Marcos, is hiding access to a platform that can generate passive income from the public. Imagine this, last month you could have earned 2M Philippine Pesos but you didn’t even know about this opportunity. Why has the government, including PBBM himself, decided to keep this a secret? Why don’t they want you to know?
But a manual search of ABS-CBN News’ YouTube channel shows that the clip comes from the Feb. 28 episode of The World Tonight.
In the original footage, Gutierrez wears a green blazer over a navy-green undershirt. Her outfit, accessories, and hairstyle match those in the manipulated ad. The original clip, which covered a cyber libel case filed by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), did not mention any investment platform.
A reverse image search showed that the clip of Razon was taken from a CNBC interview on Dec. 2, 2024, where he discussed the impact of U.S. trade tariffs on the ports industry. He did not mention the platform in the original footage. Neither did he claim that the Marcos administration was hiding a supposed income-generating opportunity.
The video further shows Marcos supposedly saying that he initially withheld information about the platform to “protect citizens” but has now officially endorsed it.
A reverse image search, however, showed that the clip of Marcos was taken from a media interview in Lapu-Lapu City on Jan. 30 after the inauguration of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport parallel runway. At no point in the original broadcast did he endorse or acknowledge the alleged platform.
Multiple AI detection tools indicate that the video’s clips and audio were likely AI-generated. Hiya, a deepfake voice detector, analyzed the audio from Gutierrez, Razon, and Marcos’ clips and found a 97% likelihood of AI generation for the first two, and 34% for the latter.
DeepFake-O-Meter, which detects AI-generated videos by spotting inconsistencies in facial movements, found AI likelihood scores of 70.37% and 84.94%. Since the tool has a two-minute limit per analysis, the 3-minute and 34-second clip was split into two sections.
Hive AI also found that the video likely contained deepfake content in both its video and audio components. The video was manually divided into 11 clips as the tool could only analyze a maximum of 20 seconds at a time. All clips consistently showed a high likelihood of AI-generated content, with no segment scoring below 90%.
To date, there is no evidence that Marcos, Razon, or the Philippine government are involved in or endorsing such a scheme.
As of March 15, Mustafa Net’s video has garnered over 300,000 views, 936 likes, 225 comments, and 3,800 shares. (EM)
Saw a potentially false claim or AI-generated content circulating online? Send it to our Facebook tipline so our fact-checking team can #CounterCheck it.
Read our fact-checking and digital verification methodology here.