Philippine Officials Reportedly Share Veo 3-Generated Video to Support Vice President Sara Duterte During Impeachment

Philippine Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa and Davao City Mayor Sebastian "Baste" Duterte reportedly shared an AI-generated video made with Google's Veo 3, depicting fake students opposing Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment. The clip was reportedly styled as a street interview and went viral with millions of views. Reportedly, dela Rosa faced backlash for spreading disinformation but defended the video's message, allegedly ignoring its fabrication.

Risk classification

• Primary risk domain: 4 Malicious actors
• Primary risk subdomain: 4.1 Disinformation, surveillance, and influence at scale

The incident involves the coordinated and at-scale dissemination of highly realistic AI-generated political disinformation to manipulate public opinion regarding a high-profile impeachment trial.

Additional risk subdomains

• 3.2 Pollution of information ecosystem and loss of consensus reality: The viral spread of synthetic 'man-on-the-street' interviews shared by public officials erodes public trust in shared facts and distorts democratic discourse.

Causal factors

• Entity: Human
• Intent: Intentional
• Timing: Post-deployment

The risk and subsequent public deception were caused by the intentional decisions of human creators to generate political deepfakes and human politicians to share them post-deployment.

EU AI Act risk tier

• Risk tier: 3 Limited Risk

Limited Risk: The incident involves the creation and dissemination of AI-generated deepfakes, which fall under the Limited Risk category of the EU AI Act, requiring transparency obligations such as labeling synthetic content.

AI system and alleged parties

• AI system: Veo 3 (Google)
• AI purpose: Deepfake Video Generation; Social Media Content Generation
• Behaviour type: Tool
• Alleged developer: Google
• Alleged deployer: Sebastian Duterte, Ronald dela Rosa
• Alleged harmed parties: Political institutions of the Philippines, Judicial integrity of the Philippines, Judicial integrity, General public of the Philippines, Epistemic integrity, Democracy

Harm severity

Severity ratings are based on this scale.

Highest direct severity in any category: Severe. Severity is scored from Negligible to Catastrophic in each harm category, for harm the reports describe as caused directly or indirectly by the AI system.

• Physical: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Infrastructure: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Property: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Financial: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Environmental: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Malicious content: direct Severe, indirect Negligible
• Differential treatment: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Civil rights: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Democracy: direct Substantial, indirect Negligible
• Privacy: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Psychological: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Epistemic: direct Severe, indirect Negligible
• Child sexual exploitation and abuse: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible

Malicious content

Reported: The report explicitly describes the creation and spread of deceptive political deepfakes designed to influence public opinion.

Directly caused: The AI tool Google Veo 3 was used to generate realistic synthetic videos of non-existent citizens expressing political opinions, which were shared on social media platforms.

Democracy

Reported: The report explicitly describes the erosion of democratic norms and public trust caused directly by the incident.

Directly caused: High-ranking government officials shared unverified synthetic political content, which eroded public trust in government institutions and distorted the discourse surrounding the impeachment process.

Inferred additional harm: The normalization of using synthetic citizens to manufacture political consensus could severely undermine the integrity of future democratic elections and public debate.

Epistemic

Reported: The report explicitly describes epistemic harm through the spread of highly realistic AI-generated misinformation that misled millions of citizens.

Directly caused: The AI-generated videos misled millions of social media users into believing that real Filipino students and citizens were being interviewed on the street.

Inferred additional harm: The widespread dissemination of realistic synthetic media by public officials makes it increasingly difficult for the public to distinguish between real and fabricated events, leading to a broader erosion of shared truth.

People affected

• Occurrences reported: 2
• People reportedly exposed: 7600000

Potential causes

Management

• Acceptance of Fake Content: Leadership defended using AI videos so long as no profit was made.
• Evasion of Public Accountability: Officials dismissed critics as trolls instead of admitting the video was fake.
• Lack of Institutional Standards: No clear code of conduct for government officials regarding sharing AI media.

Technology

• Rapidly Evolving AI Video Tools: Veo and other tools generate highly realistic videos with synchronized audio.
• Subtle and Hard-to-Spot Watermarks: Veo's watermark was barely discernible, allowing deepfakes to mislead viewers.
• Grey Area in AI Safety Policies: Safeguards block real-person deepfakes but miss fake man-on-the-street avatars.

Data Inputs

• Lack of Clear AI Labeling: No prominent labels on shared video, except a hashtag in the caption.
• Digitally Fabricated Audio-Visuals: Synthesized students, street scenes, and voices mimic real-world contexts.
• Inconsistent Visual Artifacts: Garbled text, nonsense logos, and distorted elements in the generated video.

Human Factors

• Lack of Verification by Officials: Senator shared the video without verifying its authenticity first.
• Confirmation Bias of Lawmakers: Officials shared the video because they agreed with its political message.
• Low Media and Digital Literacy: Netizens struggle to distinguish AI-generated content from real videos.

Process and Methods

• Lack of Fact-Checking Protocols: No systematic review process before public officials repost online content.
• Algorithmic Monetization of Views: Platforms incentivize engagement and sharing of sensational deepfake content.
• Anonymous Disinformation Campaigns: PR firms and pages use anonymity to run organized political influence campaigns.

Regulatory Environment

• Absence of Comprehensive AI Laws: The Philippines lacks dedicated legislation to regulate AI and disinformation.
• Delayed Election AI Guidelines: Commission on Elections issued guidelines only months before campaign periods.
• Failed AI Regulation Bills: Several bills to establish an AI bill of rights failed to pass in Congress.

Information quality

• Classification confidence: High
• Reason for confidence: The reports provide consistent, detailed accounts of the creation, dissemination, and political fallout of the AI-generated videos. The AI tool (Google Veo 3) is explicitly identified, and the reactions of the key political figures are well-documented across multiple reputable news sources.
• Ambiguities identified: None of significance; the main debate is political rather than factual regarding the AI's role.
• Alternative interpretations: None.

High-ranking Philippine officials used Google's Veo 3 to generate and share synthetic 'man-on-the-street' videos to influence public opinion during the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte. This incident represents a notable escalation in political information warfare, where state actors utilize advanced AI to manipulate public trust and interfere with constitutional processes.

• Overall national security impact: Substantial
• Scope: Single nation
• Primary target: Philippines
• Alleged perpetrator: Senator Ronald Bato dela Rosa and Mayor Sebastian Duterte

Threat characteristics

• Imminence: Near-term. The incident represents a developing situation tied to active political proceedings requiring monitoring to prevent further escalation of disinformation.
• Autonomy: Human-controlled. The AI system acted purely as a text-to-video generation tool, with humans initiating, directing, and disseminating the content.
• Novelty: Evolved capability. While political deepfakes are an established threat, the active dissemination and defense of synthetic media by sitting government officials during an impeachment marks a significant escalation.

Impact by dimension

• Physical security: Negligible. No physical security threats, kinetic attacks, or critical infrastructure compromise were reported in relation to this incident.
• Information security: Substantial. The incident involved a high-profile deepfake campaign targeting the impeachment of the Vice President, garnering millions of views and manipulating public opinion.
• Sovereignty: Substantial. The use of synthetic media by high-ranking officials to influence an active impeachment proceeding directly threatens the integrity of core government functions and democratic processes.
• Economic security: Negligible. No economic threats, strategic technology theft, or financial system manipulations were reported.
• Societal stability: Substantial. The viral spread of synthetic political interviews misled millions of citizens, contributing to the erosion of public trust and polluting the information ecosystem.