Sara Duterte belies AI photos of ‘skin and bones’ Rodrigo

Vice President Sara Duterte has refuted the circulating AI-generated photos of her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, on social media amid controversies regarding his health condition while detained at The Hague, Netherlands. 

“Hindi totoo ‘yung photo. Meron akong nakita na photo na…mukhang nasa hospital bed siya at meron siyang hospital bracelet, na nametag sa hospital. Hindi totoo ‘yung photo na ‘yun,” she said in an interview in The Hague on Tuesday. 

(The photo is not true. I saw a photo that looks like my father is on a hospital bed and he has a hospital bracelet and nametag of the hospital. That photo is not true.) 

“Walang photo na lumalabas galing sa loob. But hindi din siya mahina, si dating Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte,” she added. 

(No photo coming out from his detention cell. But former President Rodrigo Duterte is not weak either.) 

The Vice President previously said that her father has lost a lot of weight since his detention in The Hague, describing him now as “skin and bones.” She also said that the former president has asked that his remains be cremated should he pass away while detained in The Hague.

Despite this, Sara Duterte said that the circulating photos of Rodrigo online is “too much.”

“Mukha siyang ano diyan, malnourished…Ngayon, hindi siya mukhang malnourished, hindi siya mukhang mahina. Payat lang talaga siya,” she said. 

(He looks malnourished there. Currently, he doesn't look malnourished, he doesn't look weak. He's just really thin.) 

Interim release

Meanwhile, Sara Duterte thanked the senators who have filed resolutions seeking the interim release of her father. 

“As I said, only the lawyer can comment on the Senate resolution whether it will be useful for the case or it is not useful for the case, but the family is praying for interim release,” she said. 

Duterte's allies Senators Robin Padilla, Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, and Bong Go earlier filed a resolution urging the Philippine government to push for the interim release of the former president in the form of house arrest at a residence in The Hague, Netherlands. 

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano also filed a separate Senate resolution urging the Philippine government to seek the interim release of Rodrigo Duterte before the International Criminal Court (ICC), and enter into an agreement to have his custody be transferred to the premises of the Philippine Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands under a form of house arrest, modified house arrest, or any appropriate arrangement deemed suitable by the Court.

Since March this year, former president Duterte has been in ICC custody and is currently detained at Scheveningen Prison in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity for the alleged extrajudicial killings during his administration’s war on drugs. 

His lawyers have since insisted that the ICC lacks jurisdiction to try him for the charges he is facing and are seeking his release to an undisclosed country. 

Amid these, they have been reviewing the batches of evidence disclosed by the Office of Prosecution in preparation for the confirmation of charges hearing set on September 23. —AOL, GMA Integrated News