FACT CHECK: Post doesn’t show real video of VP Sara’s 2028 presidential bid declaration

Claim: A video shows Vice President Sara Duterte asking a crowd if they would support her presidential bid in the 2028 elections. 

Rating: FALSE 

Why we fact-checked this: The video, posted on February 14, has already received 350,000 views, 7,900 comments, and 3,600 shares as of writing. 

It shows footage of Duterte speaking in front of a crowd, supposedly saying, “Mga kababayan, kung sakali po akong tumakbo sa darating na halalan 2028, nais kong marinig ang inyong tinig. Handa ba ninyo akong suportahan? Papayag ba kayo na ako’y tumindig at magsilbi bilang pinuno ng ating bansa?”

(My fellow countrymen, if I were to run in the upcoming 2028 elections, I would like to hear your voice. Are you ready to support me? Will you allow me to stand up and serve as the leader of our country?)

She added that her goal is to have an honest, humane, and people-centered government. Duterte can be heard asking the viewers to comment their opinions and share the video so that “more of our countrymen can participate in the conversation.” 

Many Facebook users believed that Duterte did make the statement as shown in the video. One commenter wrote, “Yes always kami naka-support sayo ikaw [lang] ang pag-asa para umayos ang bansa natin.”

(Yes, we have always been supporting you. You are the only hope for our country’s progress.)

The facts: The misleading post uses manipulated audio and an old video of the Vice President. While the footage of Duterte speaking in front of a crowd is real, the matching audio is not, and was only superimposed on the video. 

The original video was from April 25, 2025, when Duterte joined then-Manila mayoral candidate Isko Moreno’s campaign rally in Quiapo to endorse Moreno and the Duterte slate in the 2025 senatorial elections. 

In the original video, she repeatedly said that she was not there as a candidate but merely a voter. Throughout her speech, the Vice President did not mention anything about a 2028 presidential bid. 

AI probability: TruthScan AI audio detector flagged the video as 49% likely to be AI-generated, with 95% probability from 0:04 to 0:12 timestamp. Deepfake Voice Detector also flagged the video as 35% likely to be AI-generated. 

The same audio was used in an earlier clip from December 2025, which scored 83% and 59% in probability of AI use, according to AI detector tools Truth Scan and Undetectable AI, respectively. 

There are also no credible news reports that have quoted Duterte making the exact statement heard in the video. 

Presidential bid: Duterte officially announced her presidential bid on February 18, in a statement streamed on her Facebook page. 

“I am Sara Duterte, and I will run for president of the Philippines,” she said. “I offer my life, my strength, and my future in the service of our nation.” 

Her announcement came amid the expected initiation of new impeachment proceedings against her in the House of Representatives. 

Duterte has long been hinting at her presidential run. In January 2025, Duterte said she was “seriously considering” running in the 2028 elections. In March 2025, before her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested, the Vice President had hinted at a possible presidential candidacy during her speech at a Hong Kong event. 

Previous fact checks: Rappler has previously debunked similar claims about Duterte: 

• FACT CHECK: VP Sara not named ‘mastermind’ in flood control corruption by Bong Revilla 
• FACT CHECK: Sara Duterte did not replace Marcos as president 
• FACT CHECK: SC ruling on impeachment did not declare Sara Duterte innocent 
• FACT CHECK: Marcos remains president; no transfer of power to Sara Duterte 

– Angelee Kaye Abelinde/Rappler.com 

Angelee Kaye Abelinde is a student journalist based in Naga City, and an alumna of Rappler’s Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship 2024. 

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