In 2025 alone, some of the Philippines’ biggest business tycoons — Lance Gokongwei, Enrique Razon Jr., Ramon Ang and Teresita Sy-Coson — were victimized by a wave of deepfake scams.

The business giants appeared to be endorsing, not their own products or services, but some undertaking completely unrelated to their businesses, with the electronically generated images seeming all too real.

The sheer concentration of these attacks in such a short span has raised an unsettling question: Is this merely a coincidence, or is the country being used as a laboratory for something bigger?

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently flagged manipulated videos of JG Summit Holdings president Lance Gokongwei endorsing a Cyprus-based investment platform. The Razon-led International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) has issued its own warning after fake audio and video surfaced featuring Enrique Razon Jr.

Likewise, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) was compelled to intervene after a deepfake of Ramon Ang was linked to a fraudulent “Quantum Investment” scheme. Even SM’s Teresita Sy-Coson was falsely linked to a viral scam promising Filipinos P175,000 a week.

On the surface, these scams looked like opportunistic money grabs. But their frequency in 2025 alone suggested a more troubling possibility: is someone planting these narratives to see how Filipinos would react?

A former Freedom of Information (FoI) official stressed that government transparency is crucial. Through the FoI, citizens can ask agencies like the DICT, NTC, and CICC to reveal what measures they have taken against deepfakes.

“FoI provides an avenue to demand accountability and transparency, preventing speculation and ensuring that citizens are informed if the Philippines is indeed being used as a testing ground for disinformation,” the official said in an interview with DAILY TRIBUNE.

For ordinary Filipinos, the scams are dangerous enough — but for the economy, the stakes are higher. An IT consultant said the deliberate use of tycoons’ likenesses is no accident.

“There is reason to believe the Philippines is being used, intentionally or not, as a testing ground. Our country has a high social media penetration rate, relatively limited regulation on emerging technologies, and a population that is very active online — all of which make us a convenient laboratory for disinformation campaigns,” the consultant said.

He warned that beyond personal losses, such scams erode trust in the country’s biggest corporations and financial institutions.

“If left unchecked, it could erode trust in the business community and financial institutions, creating reputational damage to legitimate companies and even shaking investor confidence in the Philippine economy,” he said.