Senator Risa Hontiveros urged the public to be more discerning about images they encounter online after a doctored photo showing her and fugitive ex-Mayor Alice Guo in a friendly side-by-side pose began circulating on the internet.
The lawmaker called the photo an outright “fake,” as she emphasized that “I have no friend who is a fake Filipino.”
Hontiveros also appealed to the managements of social media platforms Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube and Tiktok to be more thorough in moderating content generated by artificial intelligence.
She vowed to “get to the bottom” of the apparent effort to portray her as having had a previous friendship with Alice Guo or Guo Hua Ping.
The fake photo is seen as part of an effort to taint the Senate committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality’s investigation into Guo, her close associates, and Philippine Overseas Gaming Operators’ illegal activities in Bamban, Tarlac.
Apparently gullible “netizens” have “bashed” Hontiveros online after seeing the doctored photo.
Some have gone as far as to suggest that the lady Senator may have aided Guo in slipping out the country because of their supposed friendship.
Documents gathered by Hontiveros and Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian showed that Guo is a really Chinese national and therefore not eligible to hold a mayoralty seat in the Philippines, a fact that was later verified by the National Bureau of Investigation.
Guo and her brother Wesley are believed to be in hiding somewhere in Indonesia, where they are being pursued by local authorities.
