Whereas Co did make sure allegations in his ‘tell-all’ movies, he didn’t make the assertion proven within the deceptive Fb reel, which deepfake detector Hive Moderation flagged as 70% more likely to be AI-generated
Declare: A video reveals former Ako Bicol consultant Zaldy Co criticizing corrupt officers.
Ranking: FALSE
Why we fact-checked this: The video bearing the declare has acquired 112,000 views, 6,200 reactions, 2,200 shares, and 345 feedback as of writing. It was posted on Fb on December 8, 2025, following Co’s revelations of alleged insertions within the 2025 finances. The video continues to attract engagement from social media customers.
Within the video, Co is proven saying, “Wala silang tunay na malasakit sa taumbayan. Ang pera ng mamamayan ay ginawa nilang negosyo at ang kaban ng bayan ay tila private nilang bangko. Ang mas masaklap, mismong makapangyarihang pamilya, wala silang tunay na malasakit sa taumbayan.”
(They don’t have any actual concern for the folks. They’ve turned the folks’s cash right into a enterprise and the general public treasury into their private financial institution. What’s worse, the highly effective households themselves don’t have any actual concern for the folks.)
A number of Fb customers imagine the video to be real, with some commenters agreeing with Co’s alleged assertion. One wrote, “Totoo yang sinabi [ni] Zaldy Co (What Zaldy Co mentioned is true).”
The details: Whereas Co did make sure allegations in his sequence of “tell-all” movies launched in November 2025, he didn’t make the statements within the circulating video, which was generated utilizing AI instruments.
Deepfake detector Hive Moderation flagged the video on the 00:05 time stamp as 70% more likely to be generated utilizing AI, whereas Sight Engine flagged a screenshot of Co’s face from the video as 93% more likely to be AI-generated.
The submit didn’t embrace a disclaimer that the video was AI-generated, which confused social media customers.
No precise match: The precise assertion proven within the AI-generated video can’t be present in any of Co’s movies posted on November 24, 25, and 26, 2025.
The closest match was Co’s message in his November 26 video on the 7:42-8:02 mark, by which he mentioned, “Wala silang malasakit sa taumbayan lalo na sa mahihirap. Inaabuso ang kapangyarihan, nagiging negosyo ang pera ng taumbayan. Masakit man tanggapin pero ito ang katotohanan, ang pinaka-makapangyarihang pamilya pa mismo ang sangkot sa ganitong sistema.”
(They don’t have any concern for the folks, particularly the poor. Energy is being abused, and the folks’s cash is being changed into a enterprise. It could be painful to just accept, however that is the reality: even essentially the most highly effective households are concerned on this system.)
On this clip, Co was accusing First Woman Liza Araneta-Marcos and her brother, Martin Araneta, of meddling with the importation of agricultural items, allegedly inflicting the worth improve of sure merchandise corresponding to spherical scad or galunggong. Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. denied these allegations, saying the personalities talked about have by no means meddled with the operations of the Division of Agriculture.
Moreover, evaluating the AI-generated video and Co’s video, it may be noticed that within the real clip, the previous lawmaker was not wanting straight on the digicam all through the period of the video as he was studying his script.
Funds insertion: Co, a central determine within the flood management scandal, launched movies in November 2025 alleging the involvement of the Marcoses in anomalous finances insertions.
Co claimed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former Home speaker Martin Romualdez masterminded the insertion of P100 billion value of initiatives within the 2025 nationwide finances, and that the President acquired P25 billion in kickbacks.
In a sequence of images posted on November 25, 2025, Co additionally accused presidential son and Ilocos Norte 1st District Consultant Sandro Marcos of P50.9 billion finances insertions.
“Hindi lang po ang Pangulo ang might insertion sa finances. Pati po si Congressman Sandro Marcos, meron din pong pinapasok taon-taon,” Co mentioned.
(The President isn’t the one one who has insertions within the finances. Even Congressman Sandro Marcos places one thing in yearly.)
Co headed the Home appropriations committee underneath the twentieth Congress till he was eliminated from the place in January 2025 amid the finances mess.
Earlier truth checks: Rappler has beforehand debunked comparable claims about Co:
– Angelee Kaye Abelinde/Rappler.com
Angelee Kaye Abelinde is a pupil journalist based mostly in Naga Metropolis, and an alumna of Rappler’s Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship 2024.
Hold us conscious of suspicious Fb pages, teams, accounts, web sites, articles, or images in your community by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Allow us to battle disinformation one Reality Examine at a time.
