FACT-CHECK: Video of street vendor criticizing Senator Cayetano is AI-generated

CLAIM: A street vendor was filmed calling Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano a traitor and the members of his bloc as Duterte followers.

RATING: FALSE

An AI-generated video of a street vendor calling Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano and twelve other senators “traitors” has gone viral on Facebook, racking up thousands of engagements.

Flagged content: A 24-second Facebook reel of a woman in a red shirt, who appears to be a street vendor criticizing Cayetano and the other senators in the majority bloc at the time.

She labeled the members of the Cayetano-led bloc as pro-Duterte senators.
The video also had multiple visual inconsistencies, including unnatural movements, incorrect number of fingers, uncommon pauses while talking, and an unnatural tone and accent of voice.

Our debunk: PressOne.PH subjected the video to an AI detection tool used by journalists and fact-checkers to verify the authenticity of visual content, which confirmed it was AI-generated.

The web-based tool Media Asset Annotation and Management detected lip-sync manipulation and face replacement in the video.

Rewind: On May 11, 2026, Cayetano replaced Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III as Senate president in a coup.

This power shift was followed by a firestorm of controversies, starting with Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s efforts to evade arrest, which led to shots being fired in the Senate building.
On May 26, minority senators walked out of the plenary session after the majority bloc attempted to railroad a motion that would allow absent senators to vote in sessions via teleconference amid reports of possible arrests of senators over corruption cases.
As a response, the members of the majority bloc refused to attend succeeding plenary sessions, preventing the Senate from reaching a quorum.
On June 3, Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero jumped to the Senate minority and showed up at the plenary hall, completing a quorum and allowing them to declare all positions in the Senate vacant. They also elected Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian as Senate president pro-tempore.

Why we fact-checked this: As of writing, the post has gained more than 5,200 reactions, 1,300 shares, and 483 comments. A read-through of the comments revealed that most users who engaged with the video were not able to identify that it was generated by artificial intelligence.

Spot the fake: Look for inconsistencies in photos and videos. Check if the movements of the eyes and lips match what the person is saying.

Be aware that AI-generated speech usually sounds robotic or has abnormal pauses.
Inspect the background, as AI-generated videos sometimes contain watermarks of the app or tool used to create them. Khrixia Mae Quizon

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