FACT CHECK: Photo of Duterte ‘national hero’ statue is AI-generated
Claim: A photo shows a statue of detained former president Rodrigo Duterte being hailed as a new hero.
Rating: FALSE
Why we fact-checked this: The TikTok video containing the claim has 1.4 million views, 192,700 likes, 5,028 shares, and 7,180 comments as of writing.
Text in the video states: “Kilalanin ang bagong bayani: President Duterte” (Get to know the new hero: President Duterte.)
Some social media users seem to believe the video, with one top comment saying, “Kung magkakaroon na ako ng anak, ikukuwento ko ‘to, kung gaano kabuti si PRRD” (If I soon have a child, I’ll tell them how good [President Rodrigo Roa Duterte] was.)
The facts: Duterte has not been hailed a new hero, and the image shown in the TikTok post is AI-generated. According to an analysis by the AI detection tool Sight Engine, the image was 99% likely to be AI-generated, with a 94% chance it was created using Stable Diffusion.
Moreover, according to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, no Filipino has ever been officially declared a national hero by law, executive order, or proclamation — not even Jose Rizal. The recognition of heroes in the Philippines is based on long-standing public admiration and contributions to nation-building, not political popularity or declarations on social media.
In 1993, President Fidel V. Ramos created the National Heroes Committee under Executive Order No. 75 to study and recommend individuals to be deemed national heroes. The committee established strict criteria: heroes must aspire for national freedom, contribute to the creation of a just society, and have a lasting, positive impact on the quality of life and destiny of a nation.
Based on these criteria, only nine individuals were recommended in November 1995: Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Aguinaldo, Apolinario Mabini, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Sultan Dipatuan Kudarat, Juan Luna, Melchora Aquino, and Gabriela Silang. Since the submission of these recommendations, however, no further action has been taken. (READ: FAST FACTS: What makes a Filipino historical figure a national hero?)
Crimes against humanity: Duterte was president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022, overseeing a brutal war on drugs that led to an estimated 12,000 to 30,000 deaths, many of whom were killed extrajudicially.
On March 11, 2025, Duterte was arrested under an ICC warrant for charges of crimes against humanity. Now detained at The Hague, Netherlands, Duterte is scheduled for a confirmation of charges hearing on September 23.
Following his arrest, Duterte’s online supporters have used paid ads and coordinated posts to portray the former president as a victim of injustice, claiming the arrest was illegal and politically motivated.
While his supporters rallied online and offline, the arrest is seen by critics and victims’ families as a monumental step toward justice for those killed during Duterte’s war on drugs. – 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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