Claim: Filipina tennis player Alex Eala was photographed carrying a bag featuring the name and face of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Rating: FALSE
Why we fact-checked this: A Facebook user posted the claim on the page “Protect Vice President Sara Duterte,” which currently has 205,000 members.
The image of Eala, posted on August 20, shows a green bag with Duterte’s face alongside the year “2028.” As of writing, the post has garnered 1,000 reactions, 208 comments, and 127 shares.
Some social media users believed that Eala was supporting Duterte’s 2028 presidential bid. One user even commented, “Galing naman keep it up carry on Alex Solid Duterte,” while others claimed that green — Duterte’s official campaign color in the 2022 elections — is the tennis player’s lucky color.
The facts: The photo is edited. A reverse Google image search reveals that Eala was actually carrying a bag from a well-known sports brand that she represents as a global ambassador.
The unaltered photo of Eala, showing her ahead of her Mubadala DC Open Finals match against world No. 3 Jessica Pegula of the United States, was published across various social media accounts, including by sports journalist Dyan Castillejo. Additional photos with different angles from the same event posted by the Rafa Nadal Academy confirm that the bag in the misleading post had been edited.
Furthermore, AI detection tool Sightengine indicated a 99% probability that the photo is AI-generated or manipulated. Other detection tools, including ZeroGPT and DeepAI, yielded similar results with a 94% probability.
The edited photo, which was shared on a Duterte supporters’ group, appears to be a show of support for the Vice President amid her ongoing impeachment trial and her declared bid for the presidency in 2028 — hence the “2028” in the bag’s design.
Disinformation target: Eala holds the record as the highest-ranked Filipina in tennis history, reaching world No. 18 in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings as of August 2026. The young tennis star dominated news headlines after winning her first-ever WTA Tour crown in the Washington Open.
Eala’s widespread fame has made her a target for false claims. Rappler previously debunked a fake quote card in which Eala allegedly made a statement denying political meaning to her choice of attire. Rappler has also previously debunked other posts featuring AI-generated photos of Eala. – Lyndee Buenagua/Rappler.com
Lyndee Buenagua is journalist based in Bicol and Baguio, and an alumna of Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship of Rappler for 2024.
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