DND dismisses circulating video of Marcos as 'fake'

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of National Defense has dismissed a circulating video of a person resembling President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and featuring a white powdery subtance as "fake."

The deepfake video in question shows a man in a green shirt with the likeness of the president. It was displayed at a gathering of a group called “MAISUG” in the United States. 

“The obviously fake video being circulated emanating from a MAISUG gathering in Los Angeles is again a maliciously crude attempt to destabilize the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. They will not succeed!” the DND’s statement on Monday read. 

“Even the release of the contrived video in the USA is a cowardly attempt to escape Philippine criminal jurisdiction,” it added. 

The video shows the man holding a small plastic pack with a crystalline substance made to look like illegal narcotics.

“We urge the proper US authorities to investigate and bring to justice the perpetrators of this disgusting act,” the DND’s statement read.

Earlier this year, during a political rally in Davao, former President Rodrigo Duterte called Marcos a drug addict. The former president claimed that Marcos was included in the drug watch list of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

This pronouncement, however, was debunked by the PDEA saying that Marcos was never in the agency’s National Drug Information System since its “activation” in 2002.