FACT CHECK: AI-Generated Video Falsely Claims VP Sara Duterte Argued with Escudero Over Impeachment

A video circulating on social media claims that Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte engaged in a heated argument with Senate President Francis Escudero over her impeachment trial. However, fact-checkers have confirmed that the clip is AI-generated disinformation. The video, posted on the Facebook page "Kapampatut" on July 8, purports to show Duterte in a confrontation with Escudero, who is presiding over the impeachment trial. In the clip, a man resembling Escudero appears to confront Duterte, asking, "Why don’t you attend the impeachment trial to defend yourself?" Duterte is then depicted replying, "You’ll be sorry once I get past this and win the next election." As of this writing, the post has garnered over two million views, 27,000 reactions, and more than 3,000 shares. However, no such confrontation between Duterte and Escudero actually occurred. No official Senate recording, livestream, press release, or credible news outlet has reported or documented such an exchange, as the video is AI-generated. An AI detection tool, DetectVideo AI, assessed the clip as having a 64% likelihood of AI generation or manipulation. A separate analysis using Hive Detect flagged the clip’s audio, finding it to be 98.5% likely to contain AI-generated speech and 99.6% likely to contain AI-generated music. Frame-level analysis also identified portions of the clip with an 86.1% likelihood of AI-generated speech. The Facebook post contains no label or disclaimer indicating that the clip was created or altered using AI. Duterte visited the Senate on July 7 solely to meet with her legal team and did not attend the impeachment proceedings. Escudero has stated that she cannot be compelled to personally appear before the impeachment court. Duterte's impeachment trial formally opened on July 6, with Escudero elected as presiding officer of the Senate impeachment court. Escudero had also presided over the Senate proceedings involving Duterte’s first impeachment complaint in 2025 while he was still the Senate president, which was later archived after the Supreme Court declared the 2025 articles of impeachment unconstitutional. Since the current trial began, Duterte has not personally attended the hearings, opting instead to be represented by her legal team. As presiding officer, Escudero has issued several key procedural rulings, including affirming that 16 votes are required to convict the Vice President and approving prosecutors’ requests to subpoena Duterte’s financial and tax records after finding they met the court’s legal requirements. Duterte is facing allegations of misuse of confidential funds, unexplained wealth, bribery, and alleged threats to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and former speaker Martin Romualdez. Source: Rappler Philippines