AI-generated Duterte statue images misidentified as real on social media
TikTok and Facebook posts circulated AI-generated images of statues purportedly depicting Rodrigo Duterte, with users believing them to be real monuments created by foreigners. AI detection tools found the images to be 88-99% likely generated by AI, and fact-checkers found no credible evidence the statues exist.
What happened
A TikTok video with 964,600 views claimed a photo showed a gold statue of detained former president Rodrigo Duterte allegedly created by Arabs, captioning it 'Arab creating Duterte art, gawa sa gold.' A separate Facebook and TikTok post claimed a photo showed a statue of Duterte made from Coca-Cola bottles purportedly created in the Netherlands.
Fact-checker Rappler used the AI detection tool Sight Engine to analyze both images. The tool found an 88% probability the gold statue image was AI-generated, with 58% correlation to Imagen diffusion technology, 16% to GPT-4o, and 9% to Stable Diffusion. The Coca-Cola statue image was found to be 99% likely AI-generated, with 94% probability of generative AI use and 99% confidence in Imagen Diffusion technology.
Reported impact
Some Filipino social media users believed the images were genuine. Commenters expressed that foreigners seemed to value Duterte more than his own countrymen, with one stating 'Foreigners seem to appreciate him more' and another thanking Dutch citizens for supposedly creating the statue.
No news reports or official statements confirmed the existence of either statue. Rappler found no credible evidence supporting the claims and noted that a high-profile costly project like this would have been covered by mainstream media and government sources.
Index analysis
The gold statue image showed 58% correlation with Imagen, 16% with GPT-4o, and 9% with Stable Diffusion. The Coca-Cola statue image showed 94% probability of generative AI creation with 99% confidence related to Imagen Diffusion technology use.
Governance controls
Rappler published fact-checks rating both claims as FALSE on May 22, 2025. The fact-checks found no official or private efforts to create such monuments and noted Duterte had only joked about a statue during a March 2025 speech to overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
This record was researched and written by the Index from original reporting. Its sources are still being verified by an editor, and they are listed here once that check is complete. Until then the record carries no reviewer.