Cebuano voters warned of AI-driven ‘deepfakes’ ahead of 2025 polls

Harvard University Neiman fellow and former GMA News Online editor-in-chief Jaemark Tordecilla led a forum titled Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Community Journalism held in a hotel in Cebu City as part of the 32nd Cebu Press Freedom Week last September. The event was organized by STET Women in Media. | Morexette Marie Erram

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Voters in the upcoming 2025 midterm elections are being warned about deepfakes.

Deepfakes, as defined in the Oxford Dictionary, are videos of a person whose appearance has been digitally altered to look like someone else.

With the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), which allows deepfakes to be generated, Assistant Regional Director of the Commission on Elections Region 7 (Comelec-7) Veronico Petalcorin emphasized the importance of informing voters about this technology.

“Daghang deepfake nga kaning mo storya ka nya lain nang mga pulong mogawas sa imong baba. Unya kato pong mga kusog mutuo, mutuo pod nga mao ni iyang gistorya. Bulok man diay ni, di man diay ni mao,” Petalcorin said.

He further explained that deepfakes are now being used by some politicians, although he did not specify who, to manipulate public perception.

Petalcorin emphasized the role of citizens in discerning real information from fake and cautioned against readily believing everything seen online.

“Kung dili ka kamao mo determine sa tinuod, wa kay angay mo botar. Ga usik-usik lang ka sa imong boto. Before ka mo botar, dapat masayod ka sa tinuod and pag masayod ka sa tinuod, dili kay magpakasayon lang ka kung unsay gisulti,” he said.

He also urged the public to research politicians themselves to counter misinformation and disinformation.

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Over 4.7M voters in Central Visayas for 2025 polls – Comelec-7

Last month, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr., president of the National Union Party, urged the Comelec and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to monitor and remove artificially generated deepfakes that might circulate during the election season.

Earlier this year, ABS-CBN’s primetime newscast “TV Patrol” was also affected by deepfakes when a TikTok video falsely suggested that Sen. Robinhood Padilla was leading in the projected 2028 presidential race.

ABS-CBN promptly clarified that the video, which manipulated images and voices of a news anchor, a reporter, and a political analyst, was “false and fabricated.”

According to the Omnibus Election Code, the campaign period for local positions will begin on March 28, 2025—45 days before election day on May 12, 2025. The campaign period for senatorial and party-list positions will start on February 11, 2025, 90 days before the election. —with reports from Krixia Subingsubing and Jeanette Andrade, Philippine Daily Inquirer

/clorenciana