Discredited Maisug rallyists were “pathetic” in their attempt to produce a deepfake video of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. as they try to desperately remain relevant in Filipino society.

Netizens held this sentiment after watching the deepfake video shown to Maisug sympathizers in Los Angeles, California, prompting Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin to brand the deepfake video as nothing but “malicious.”

To recall, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. has already ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) to investigate the deepfake video.

Showing a comparison of the President’s photo and the deepfake video, Abalos pointed out the obvious.

"The one at the bottom is the picture of allegedly our President. Look at the ear. Look closely at the ear here. Watch it. The picture of our President on the left, the earlobe called. Look at the one on the right," said Abalos.

This was not the first time that the President was a target of deepfake videos on the Internet, with several incidents already being investigated by authorities this year.

“I’m asking our chief PNP, General (Rommel) Marbil, together with General Baccay and, of course, General Cariaga to immediately create a task force to probe this issue,” Abalos said in a press briefing in Camp Crame.

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) stressed that the video was “deepfake” or digitally created.

DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy warned the perpetrators of the deepfake video that they could be held liable under laws against cyber libel, slander, and malicious mischief.

Uy stressed that the public should expect more deepfake videos “considering election season is coming.”

Meantime, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. also slammed the “maliciously crude attempt to destabilize the administration” as he assured the public that “they will not succeed.”

“Even the release of the contrived video in the USA is a cowardly attempt to escape Philippine criminal jurisdiction,” the Defense chief said.

The DND urged concerned United States authorities to probe and bring to justice the perpetrators behind the “disgusting act.”

The Presidential Adviser for Poverty Alleviation, Secretary Larry Gadon, dismissed the rallyists and sympathizers as “pathetic” and “laos,” or “out of date.”

"Who else, of course, are those behind the Maisog rally: Obsolete people, those who were not appointed, those who have no income, bitter people who were not appointed," Gadon said.