[DECODED] No, this ‘handsome’ Duterte grandson is not real - Rappler

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Sharp features, styled hair, and easy confidence in front of a camera. At first glance, Lance is your stereotypical content creator. Adding to the charm is his surname: Duterte. 

Lance Duterte is supposedly the son of Vice President Sara Duterte and grandson of former president Rodrigo Duterte. This has helped him rack up thousands of swooning comments and online supporters. 

And in true Duterte fashion, he is often seen posing with a fist bump for photos at different locations — like Luneta Park and Davao City Hall. If that’s not enough proof of his lineage, he has also been posting photos with his supposed family, like his “aunt” Kitty and mother Sara.

There’s one problem with this almost-too-perfect image: he is not real.

Lance established his identity through his Facebook profile, “Lance Duterte (Official Account),” with over 382,000 followers on Facebook.

He recently caught the public’s eye when he shared his photos posing in Luneta Park.

But a closer look at the images exhibits visual signs that they are AI-generated, such as jumbled letters at the Rizal Monument, the absence of the Torre Manila condo behind the monument, and an inaccurate shadow of Lance.

​AI image detection tools Hive Detect and Sightengine rated the image as 99.9% likely to be AI-generated, while ZeroGPT and DeepAI gave it a 91% AI-likelihood score.

​Lance also posted photos of him posing warmly with the Vice President and her husband, Manases “Mans” Carpio, and another set of pictures with Veronica “Kitty” Duterte and Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte. The same AI image detection tools said the pictures were AI-generated, but they were not labelled as AI content on Facebook.

Supporters of the Duterte family also reposted photos of Lance, echoing the narrative that he is related to the Duterte family.

But in reality, it is publicly known that Vice President Duterte and Carpio only have three children: Mikhaila Maria (Sharky), Mateo Lucas (Stingray), and Marko Digong (Stonefish).

No official public record acknowledges his existence. His persona relies entirely on artificial intelligence to fabricate a person that does not exist. 

Lance Duterte is the latest addition to the AI-generated media surrounding the Dutertes. Rappler has previously debunked AI-generated images and videos designed to draw sympathy and political support for the Duterte family. 

These synthetic contents are circulating amid critical political events for the Dutertes: the impeachment trial of Vice President Duterte and the continued detention of former president Duterte at The Hague, Netherlands, as he awaits his trial in the ICC.

Lance Duterte’s Facebook profile was created on September 26, 2021, serving as an alternative profile for another account named “Lance Kurt Duterte.”

Facebook disabled the latter account on January 27, 2025, after a series of suspensions from 2022 until 2024.

The “Lance Kurt Duterte” account featured a different face in its profile picture compared to the Lance Duterte persona circulating today.

Rappler earlier fact-checked a claim in 2020 made by an account named “Lance Kurt Dong Duterte” that accused Tricia Robredo, daughter of then-vice president Leni Robredo, of allegedly sending hate messages to him. The account similarly claimed that he is the grandson of former president Duterte. Both of the Robredos have denied that the exchanges happened, and the account later became unavailable on Facebook.

The “Lance Duterte (Official Account)” Facebook profile became active during the national campaign of Vice President Duterte and President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in 2022. It became inactive in 2023, then posted about the Duterte family and the arrest of their ally, Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, in 2024.

It became active again in 2025 to support Vice President Duterte and direct online attacks toward the Marcos Jr. administration, specifically after the arrest of former president Duterte over his crimes against humanity case in the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In 2026, the account consistently promoted pro-Duterte propaganda. It recently responded to veteran news anchor Korina Sanchez’s remarks that Davao City “looks left behind,” and posted Davao City infrastructure updates paired with pro-Duterte hashtags.

It also intensified its activity by humanizing the Lance Duterte persona with AI-generated content, attracting thousands of engagements from social media users. Posts about Lance have garnered comments from supporters, saying that he is ”handsome” and “soon to be an artist or politician.”

Lance’s online fame has even extended beyond his own Facebook accounts. ​A fan-run Facebook page created on September 26, 2026 now has more than 3,800 followers as of writing. The page actively posts AI-generated videos of Lance, which have amassed thousands of reactions each.

The Global Risks Report 2026 by the World Economic Forum identified misinformation and disinformation as one of the most crucial global concerns, emphasizing that it is now facilitated by AI. The United Nations’ Independent International Scientific Panel on AI has also said in its preliminary report that AI-driven disinformation weakens the information ecosystem and disrupts democracy. – Rappler.com