Percy Lapid, a known radio commentator in the Philippines, was killed on the 3rd of October 2022 after he constantly reported and commented on the corruption of high ranking government officials in the country.

Using AI technology and with the permission of his family, Percy Lapid was able to do a report again on his first death anniversary. The expressions and words used were patterned to how Percy Lapid would comment and report. Through his report, he was unsilenced and was able to remind the Filipinos that his case still remains unresolved a year after his death. He also made them aware that he was just one of more than 200 journalists killed since 1986 and that everyone should still seek justice for these slain journalists.

The Philippines is the 7th most dangerous country for journalists in the world with more than 200 journalists killed since 1986. And for many of them, their cases still remain unresolved. One of them is Percy Lapid, who had a show on the radio station, DWBL, called Lapid Fire. Through his show, he reported cases of corruption of high ranking government officials.

He was shot dead while he was on his way home on October 3, 2022.

On his first death anniversary, the real mastermind was still not behind bars. To raise awareness on this, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines used AI technology to unsilence Percy Lapid who was already silenced.

Like how he would usually report, Percy Lapid was able to do a report from the grave on his death anniversary and remind everyone that his case still remains unresolved.

Although the government declares that there is press freedom in the Philippines, the Philippines still remains to be the 7th most dangerous country for journalists in the world. There is a lingering fear among journalists that they can be silenced if they say something negative against someone who is powerful. In fact, there is still no Filipino documentary in major broadcasting networks that directly tackles killing of journalists in the country.

There are journalists though who still remain committed to their mission to research and expose the truth to make all Filipinos aware and informed. One of them was Percy Lapid. Through his radio program, Lapid Fire, on DWBL, he exposed cases of corruption of top government officials in the country. And sadly, he was shot dead while on his way home.

This kind of news, a journalist being killed is not something new for Filipinos. In fact, the most number of journalists killed in a single incident, happened in Maguindanao, Philippines. Those who are powerful will continue to silence journalists but through NUJP Reports from the Grave, they can be unsilenced.

Through Percy Lapid’s Report from the Grave, it gave journalists and other Filipino citizen a different perspective on AI technology. It gave a way for NUJP to unsilence silenced journalists by using AI after seeking permission from their respective families.

Percy Lapid’s report was featured and talked about online, on news programs, and made his first death anniversary more impactful. Hearing his voice reporting once again shocked other fellow journalists and followers, and made them emotional as well. This impact encouraged NUJP to continue Reports from the Grave so that murdered journalists can report on their own deaths and rally everyone to seek justice not just for them but for all slain journalists in the country.

I am Percy Lapid, a veteran broadcaster, known for the show "Lapid Fire,"

where I fearlessly criticized issues of corruption in the Philippine government.

On the third of October, 2022, I was ruthlessly gunned down

by a riding-in-tandem while on my way home.

It's been a year, my friends. What has happened here?

The Philippine National Police has already declared it “case closed”. They have the gunman in custody. The middleman is dead. But is that it? Who is the real mastermind? Who should be accountable for my death? How many of my death anniversaries must pass before the case is genuinely resolved?

In the Philippines, not just me, but over two hundred journalists have been killed since 1986, and majority have not yet claimed justice. We need your help.

Let's strengthen the call for Press Freedom. Visit nujp.org/TuKatarungan.

Be the voice of those who have been silenced.

Use of AI Technology / Voice Activation (150 Words)

With the use of AI technology, elevenlabs.io, we were able to extract Percy Lapid’s voice and use it for his Report from the Grave. The extracting of the voice was easy but using the voice to speak Filipino words correctly needed several generation of words and phrases from the script to achieve the correct accent.

The report itself was generated with the help of AI but the script was crafted according to how

Percy Lapid speaks. The script included expressions and nuances that would make people believe that it’s actually him speaking.

We knew that using a deceased person’s voice was very sensitive. We made sure that we were allowed by his family and the script for the report was aligned to them as well.

True enough, hearing his produced Report from the Grave made Percy Lapid’s loved ones