DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 11 July) – A photo featuring former President Rodrigo Duterte lying frail in a hospital bed, clad in a hospital gown with tubes and wristbands, has circulated online with numerous concerned netizens sharing the viral Facebook photo.
This photo is fake and AI-generated.
The original post, uploaded by a user named Chari Murphy, has garnered massive engagement with over 298,000 reactions, 55,200 comments, and 24,700 shares as of 11:00 am, July 12. It was accompanied by this caption:’
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he looks frail and unwell now. At his age, he’s endured so much. 💔 He doesn’t deserve this — no one does. Only God knows what comes next… and the pain and impact it will have on millions of Filipinos, and even others around the world.”
Duterte turned 80 years old on March 28, his first birthday in The Hague, the Netherlands. The former President was arrested on March 11 and has been detained in The Hague since March 12 on charges of alleged crimes against humanity filed before the International Criminal Court (ICC). He made his first appearance before the ICC on March 14, via video from his detention center, and is scheduled to attend the confirmation of charges on September 23.
On May 12, Duterte won an eighth term as mayor of Davao City. He was proclaimed winner by the Commission on Elections on May 13. He has not taken his oath of office and has not filed his Statement of Campaign Expenditures (SOCE).
His son, Sebastian, the elected Mayor has been Acting Mayor since noon of June 30.
MindaNews is fact-checking this post as it continues to circulate and mislead a large number of netizens, many of whom expressed sympathy or alarm.
The image is artificially generated, and even the poster Chari Murphy has confirmed this in the comment section, responding to criticisms with remarks such as:
“Ugaliing magbasa po bago magwala agad” (Get used to reading first before lashing out).
“Google search na rin what is AI” (Go ahead and Google what AI is, too).
The viral image also falsely implies insider access to Duterte’s current condition. However, no one, except for close family members and lawyers, has seen the former president since March 14, 2025, during his first appearance before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
No official photos of him have been released since his ICC appearance in March as well.
Elizabeth Zimmerman, Duterte’s wife until their legal separation in 1998, admitted a few days ago to his supporters outside the detention facility in The Hague that Duterte is “skin and bones,” but stressed that he is otherwise “healthy for his age,” even noting:
“He’s okay. Parang tingin ko he’s healthy, but as an old man, mahina na maglakad” (He’s okay. I think he’s healthy, but as an old man, he’s starting to have trouble walking), Zimmerman said in a video recording of an interview posted on Alvin and Tourism’s Facebook page.
To supplement their assessments, MindaNews also ran the image through InVID, a digital forensics plugin widely used by journalists to analyze images and videos.
The tool checks for visual inconsistencies and metadata anomalies that may suggest manipulation.
InVID’s Double Quantization filter indicated distinct compression inconsistencies between the region of Duterte’s figure and the rest of the photo, which is a strong sign of tampering. The area around the body showed light-colored, object-like patches, while the rest of the image remained dark, suggesting that the figure was inserted after the fact.
The DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) coefficient analysis also revealed noticeable greenish-blue highlights around Duterte’s body, contrasting sharply with the otherwise black background. This is a known marker for image tampering, as DCT inconsistencies appear when content is artificially added to a JPEG.
Finally, in the BLOCK detection pass, the tool identified localized grid disruptions near the figure. Since JPEGs compress images using an 8×8 block grid, any coherent region that diverges from this grid often points to photo edits. The disruptions near the upper and lower portion of the bed align with typical AI or compositing artifacts.
All three forensic filters suggest strong evidence of artificial manipulation. These are classic indicators of AI-generated or heavily edited content, especially in viral disinformation.
As with all our other reports, MindaNews welcomes fact check leads or suggestions from the public.
MindaNews is a verified signatory to the Code of Principles of the International Fact-Checking Network. (Allizah Keziah Manulat / MindaNews intern)
