Deepfake video seen as ‘chilling preview’ of AI use in PH polls

“TV Patrol,” the prime-time newscast of ABS-CBN network, became the target of a deepfake TikTok video about a purported survey that projects Sen. Robinood Padilla as the front-running candidate in the 2028 presidential race.

The network on Friday disowned the “false and fabricated” clip, which also contained the manipulated images and voices of a news anchor, a reporter, and a political analyst.

Dismissing the video as “fake news” in a Facebook post, Julio Teehankee, the political analyst whose image was used, warned that it was “a chilling preview of how (artificial intelligence, or AI) will be used in Philippine elections.”

READ: Analysts warn vs AI, ‘deepfakes’ in 2025 polls

RG Cruz, the political reporter in the doctored video, said the polling firm Pulse Asia had not published any survey in June 2024 about voters’ preferences in the 2028 elections and that he had “not filed any such report to that effect on “TV Patrol” or any platforms of ABS-CBN.” “Always check the accounts of posts you see on social media if these are authentic accounts of trusted news sources or people you know personally,” Cruz said in a post on Facebook.

The same video also showed the image of “TV Patrol” anchor Henry Omaga-Diaz supposedly doing a spiel on the Pulse Asia survey.

Tiktok account

The clip was traced to the TikTok account @aliceguo_, a name apparently derived from that of controversial Mayor Alice Guo of Bamban, Tarlac, who is under investigation for her allegedly faked identity and ties to a Philippine online gaming operator (Pogo) in her hometown that was raided in March for criminal activities.

The video appeared to be a reworking of Cruz’s April 3 report on a real Pulse Asia preelection survey that showed Sen. Raffy Tulfo and Vice President Sara Duterte to be statistically tied as 2028 presidential contenders.

In a statement sent to the Inquirer, ABS-CBN said it had asked TikTok to take action on the “fabricated and manipulated video.”

Older fakes still there

The broadcast giant also assured viewers that it had “mechanisms in place for fact-checking and flagging mis- and disinformation using ABS-CBN News materials and personalities.”

The video was no longer accessible as of Friday afternoon.

READ: ‘Deepfake’: PCO disowns clip of Marcos ‘attack order’ vs China 

The @aliceguo_ account, however, was still active and containing older posts—including two deepfake videos of a GMA news coverage relating to the “death” and “burial” of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Another earlier video, one already flagged as fake news by the media outlet PressOne, showed an UNTV news segment likewise showing Padilla as the top choice in another survey on possible presidential candidates.