Vlogger says Roque behind ‘Pulvoron video’ edited to look like Marcos
Rep. Romeo Acop. HREP photo.
MANILA, Philippines — The so-called “pulvoron video,” which showed a man allegedly sniffing an illegal drug, was digitally manipulated to make it look like President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., a vlogger who was invited to propagate this content on social media, said on Tuesday.
During the third hearing of the House of Representatives tri-committee, vlogger Vicente Cunanan—known online as Pebbles—admitted that Marcos was not in the video, as the man’s facial features were far from those of the President.
“‘The raw version — if you look at it — you can’t really say that it is him; it’s not PBBM [President Bongbong Marcos]. So they enhanced the video, and after doing that, the face was seen better,” Cunanan, speaking in Filipino, told Antipolo 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop.
“Do you mean to say the video was edited? It’s an enhanced version?” Acop asked in mixed Filipino and English.
“Yes, sir. Even the raw video, I did not believe that was PBBM,” Cunanan replied.
Fake video
A video supposedly showing Marcos using illegal drugs spread online last July 2024 — just before he delivered his third State of the Nation Address. However, cybercrime experts from both the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation said the video was fake.
READ: NBI, PNP Cybercrime findings on video: ‘Definitely not the President’
Aside from these assertions, Cunanan (who uses pronouns she and her) said that former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque was the one behind the operation to spread the video.
In a sworn statement submitted to the House, Cunanan said she was invited to a private dinner with other vloggers supporting former president Rodrigo Duterte. During the dinner, Roque told the vloggers that a politician’s relative had given him a video showing Marcos supposedly using cocaine.
What she remembers, Cunanan said, was that Roque said he was good at overthrowing governments.
“So do you think Pebbles, there was an intentional alteration of the video to manipulate the image of that one in the video […] this means, it appears that the sharing of this video to destroy PBBM’s reputation was planned, correct?” Acop asked.
“Yes, Mr. Chair,” Cunanan said.
“And according to you, it was Harry Roque behind this?” Acop asked her again.
“Yes, Mr. Chair,” Cunanan replied.
When asked why she is coming out now, Cunanan said she wants to correct what happened in the past.
“To correct the mistakes,” she noted.
INQUIRER.net messaged Roque, who is currently in the Netherlands to seek asylum, for his side of the story. He has not replied as of posting time.
Spread of disinformation
The tri-committee has been tasked to probe the spread of disinformation online after several resolutions were filed and different privilege speeches about the matter were delivered.
Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers was one of the lawmakers who delivered a privilege speech, after different fake news spread about him and the other chairpersons of the House’s quad committee.
During that time, the quad committee was probing illegal activities in Philippine offshore gaming operators, the illicit drug trade, and extrajudicial killings in the past administration’s drug war.
This was not the first misinformation attempt that the President suffered. Last May 2024, lawmakers urged the public to exercise discretion amid the spread of videos where President Marcos Jr.’s voice is being mimicked to announce that the Philippines is getting ready for war against China.
READ: ‘Deepfake’: PCO disowns clip of Marcos ‘attack order’ vs China
PCO has already disowned the video, saying that the video was made to sound like the [resident — stressing that Marcos has not made such an order to the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
