Claim: A photo depicting a statue of detained former president Rodrigo Duterte was constructed using recycled materials.
Rating: FALSE
Why we fact-checked this: The Facebook post containing the claim has 4,600 reactions, 231 shares, and 303 comments as of writing.
The caption in the post says: “Art made of recycled materials.”
Numerous Filipinos mistook the AI-generated statue for real, sharing it widely and applauding the creator while showing admiration for Duterte. One notable commenter tagged the International Criminal Court (ICC), stating, “This guy [is] really respected and loved by most Filipinos.”
The facts: Analysis by the AI detection tool Sight Engine shows a 95% probability that the Facebook image of the Duterte statue was generated using AI, most likely with Google’s Imagen (93%), followed by Stable Diffusion (1%), GPT-4o (1%), and DALL·E (1%).
The Facebook page “Duterte News Info” frequently shares AI-generated photos of Duterte statues to boost pro-Duterte narratives. Although some of these posts clearly state they are AI-generated, many do not, including the image of a statue reportedly made from recycled materials. This particular post lacked any AI disclaimer, causing many social media users to mistake it for a real statue.
Monument joke: The AI-generated photo of the Duterte statue, like many others circulating online, likely references a remark he made in March 2025. In the context of reports about a possible ICC arrest warrant concerning his controversial drug war, Duterte joked to a crowd of overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong about raising money to build a monument in his honor.
As of writing, no such monument exists. There are no reports, official announcements, or any physical evidence of a Duterte statue being built or planned anywhere in the Philippines or abroad.
Disinformation campaign: Despite being detained in the ICC Detention Center on crimes against humanity charges, Duterte won the Davao City mayoral race by a landslide. To many Dabawenyos, he remains their “tatay” — a father figure credited with restoring peace and order after decades of unrest, even if that peace came at the cost of thousands of lives under his iron-fisted rule.
However, Duterte’s political dominance is also sustained by a massive disinformation machinery. Research from Cyabra revealed that fake social media accounts generated about one-third of online discussions about Duterte’s ICC arrest and nearly half (45%) of all conversations related to the 2025 elections. (READ: Fake accounts drove praise of Rodrigo Duterte and now target Philippine election)
Debunked: Rappler has debunked several AI-generated images and fabricated attempts to amplify Duterte’s public image:
- .FACT CHECK: Photo of Duterte ‘fishnet statue’ is AI-generated
- FACT CHECK: Photo of Duterte ‘Coca-Cola statue’ in the Netherlands is AI-generated
- FACT CHECK: Photo of ‘Arab gold’ Duterte statue is AI-generated
- FACT CHECK: Image of Jackie Chan sculpting Duterte statue is AI-generated
- FACT CHECK: Photo of Duterte ‘national hero’ statue is AI-generated
- FACT CHECK: Duterte’s monument photo is AI-generated
– Marjuice Destinado/Rappler.com
Marjuice Destinado is a Rappler intern. She is also a fact-checker and researcher-writer at Explained PH. A third-year political science student at Cebu Normal University (CNU), she serves as the feature editor of Ang Suga, CNU’s official student publication.
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