Video of ‘Justice for Rene’ bus made or edited with Google AI
A viral Facebook account showing an EDSA Pasay to Taft Manila passenger bus bearing a “Justice for Rene” bus design as tribute to the late Ateneo Blue Eagles basketball player Rene Baterbonia was made or edited using Google artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
Google's SynthID Detector found a digital watermark in the 20-second reel, identifying the media as made or edited using Google AI.
A separate check using Gemini also identified the video's visuals as AI generated or edited. Neither check detected a SynthID watermark in the audio track.
Facebook page Virgz Journal posted the reel on Oct. 10 with Think of Laura by Christopher Cross as background music and the caption:
Missing Bobet so much....♥️😭😭#JUSTICEFORRENE #NoJusticeNoPeace #JusticeForReneBaterbonia @highlight
A scan of news reports or announcements showed no official statements of any “Justice for Rene” bus campaign taking place in Metro Manila at the time.
Two other AI detection tools returned results consistent with SynthID and Gemini’s watermark finding. Hive classified the video as 100% AI-generated while ImageWhisperer flagged extracted video keyframes as highly likely to be generated using AI.
The bus’ destination sign reads "EDSA–TAFT" and "PASAY– MANILA,” but the routes listed by Commute Tour Philippines and Bus Guide do not match the journey indicated on the sign. Also, the northbound route of the EDSA Bus Carousel that passes through EDSA Pasay does not reach Taft Avenue in Manila.
Several visual inconsistencies are also apparent in the footage.
The bus route placard reads “LAT” instead of “LRT.” The first letter in the word “PASAY” is distorted and resembles a combination of B and P.
The bus’ license plates were either blank or inconsistent throughout the video. At first, the front plate is a yellow plate with no legible text. A succeeding scene showed a rear white plate with indistinct black markings.
The Land Transportation Office’s current license plate system, enacted in 2014, requires public utility vehicles such as passenger buses to bear yellow license plates with three letters and four letters in black writing.
Reverse image searches using Google Lens, Yandex and TinEye did not return an earlier authentic source photo. Google Lens yielded reposts of the video and images of other blue buses.
Virgz Journal joined Facebook in 2010 and frequently posts Baterbonia-related content to its 21,000 followers. Its Oct. 10 reel had gathered 7,600 reactions, 879 likes and 720 shares as of this writing.
Copies of the reel also circulated on Baterbonia supporters Facebook group Rene Baterbonia 2.0 with 1,800 reactions, and on Facebook page Nelsie Mondero Luzaran gaining 13,200 reactions. (EU)
