Palace dismisses 'malicious' video
EXECUTIVE Secretary Lucas Bersamin on Monday dismissed a video of a person resembling President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. holding a powdery substance as «malicious.»
The video was aired during a «Maisug» rally attended by supporters of former president Rodrigo Duterte in Los Angeles, California.
«Koreyano 'yun, hindi Pilipino (He's Korean, not Filipino),» he said, referring to the man in the video.
The deepfake video in question shows a man in a green shirt with the likeness of the President. The man was also seen holding a small plastic pack with a crystalline substance made to look like illegal drugs.
The video was released hours before Marcos delivered his third State of the Nation Address.
Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos also on Monday ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) to investigate a video of a person who looks like President Marcos using illegal substance.
«I'm asking our chief PNP, General (Rommel) Marbil, together with General (Matthew) Baccay and, of course, (PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group chief) Gen. (Ronnie) Cariaga to immediately create a task force to probe this issue. We will definitely investigate this thoroughly,» Abalos said in a press briefing in Camp Crame.
AdvertisementThe Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), meanwhile, dismissed the video as «deepfake» or digitally created.
DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy warned the perpetrators of the deepfake video that they could be held liable under laws against cyber libel, slander and malicious mischief.
This was not the first time that Marcos was a victim of deepfake videos. In April, a deepfake audio wherein the President purportedly ordered aggressive action against a particular country circulated on social media.
Uy said the public should expect more deepfake videos «considering election season is coming.»
AdvertisementDefense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. slammed the «maliciously crude attempt to destabilize the administration» as he assured the public that «they will not succeed.»
«Even the release of the contrived video in the US is a cowardly attempt to escape Philippine criminal jurisdiction,» Teodoro said.
The Department of National Defense urged concerned US
