Claim: A video shows the Batangas-Mindoro undersea tunnel, which is already nearing completion.
Rating: FALSE
Why we fact-checked this: Facebook user “Herbert Aquino Lucendovlogger” posted a video featuring an aerial shot of the alleged Japan-made structure and footage of the inside of the undersea tunnel.
The video’s narrator says, “Wow malapit na pala matapos ang Batangas-Mindoro undersea tunnel. Napakagandang daanan ito ng mga motorista. Gawang Japan talaga, napakatibay.”
(Wow, the Batangas-Mindoro undersea tunnel is nearly complete. This is an excellent road for motorists. It’s made by Japan, very sturdy.)
The post has 7.4 million views, 97,300 reactions, 7,600 comments, and 10,000 shares as of writing.
The facts: There is no Batangas-Mindoro undersea tunnel in the Philippines. The video is AI-generated.
AI detection tool HiveDetect analyzed the video frame by frame and labeled it as 99.9% likely to be AI-generated. It also flagged the speech in the video as 99.1% likely to be AI, with SightEngine scoring a screenshot of the post at 95% AI probability.
Fact-checking outlet VERA Files also flagged a similar post on April 10 as fake and AI-generated.
Inspiration from China: Reverse image search results showed that the AI-generated bridge seemed to take inspiration from the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge in China.
It is the world’s longest sea crossing, running 55 kilometers across the Pearl River Delta and connecting three of the country’s prominent cities through a bridge-tunnel system. It also has several artificial islands, which appear similar to the images shown in the AI-generated video.
Mindoro-Batangas Super Bridge: While there is no undersea tunnel in the Philippines, there was a proposal in 2015 to construct a “super bridge” linking the two provinces.
It was envisioned as a 15-kilometer floating bridge covering an 8.5-kilometer distance from Mindoro Island to Verde Island, then a 6.5-kilometer stretch from Verde Island to Batangas, to be constructed under the public-private partnership framework.
The administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte included the proposed bridge into its “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program. Data from the National Economic and Development Authority showed that the project was retained up until 2019.
In 2023, San Miguel Corporation expressed interest in taking on the project. However, there have been no reports or public records regarding the bridge’s construction to date. – Eirene Manatlao/Rappler
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