Palpak DDS propaganda

Dahil Digong is detained in The Hague, and Sara is up for an impeachment trial here, and desperate ang mga DDS to bring Digong home AND to get the VP’s mpeachment case dismissed, they pounce on every opportunity to paint BBM as an incompetent leader who deserves to be ousted and replaced by the VP, now na. They’re also not beyond pouncing on the First Lady every chance they get, as in the Tantoco case. This, as the Ph Coast Guard is making suyod Taal Lake for the remains of e-sabungeros who went missing under Digong’s watch.  Distracting us much?

Duterte propagandists eating up the dead: The worst of political discourse
Katrina Stuart Santiago
VeraFiles.Org

What is the size of a controversy? And how is a story magnified, amplified, expanded at this time when anyone at all can manufacture digital noise, generate so much content that it will make it to our newsfeeds despite our algorithmic bubbles?

The Rodrigo Duterte presidency was a grand display of how government propagandists could make mountains out of molehills, be it about the purported achievements of their beloved president, or about his declared political enemies. We now know what it takes to keep any narrative going, where content is constantly and consistently generated to feed it, to repeat what is being said, until it starts moving on its own. Case in point: the criticism against the elite, the label of dilawan, the terrorista-komunista tag, and even, the label bobotante.

This, to me, is how we know for sure that even the worst, most baseless false narratives, when un-addressed and un-dealt with, can and will fester. To the point that there is no curing it—not with the truth, and certainly not with the tools that are familiar.

The Anti-First Lady trip

Duterte propagandists have always had it in for First Lady Liza Marcos, a project that has been helped along by both Vice President Sara Duterte’s and the Presidential sister and Senator Imee Marcos’s pronouncements against her.

What happened at the First Lady’s US trip for the Manila International Film Festival (MIFF) in March, as such, from the perspective of the Duterte propagandists, is an opportunity to hit the First Lady harder than they ever have. Never mind common sense and decency; never mind respect for a family in grief.

As early as March 11, the louder among the Duterte propagandists was already screaming at the top of her lungs about the death of someone from the First Lady’s MIFF entourage. Her unverified tsismis was aplenty: the First Lady was questioned and detained, the group of the FL was “nataranta”, they didn’t report the death until seven hours after, all of this pointing to what she insisted was an effort to cover up the death.

Part of this story was repeated by Vice President Sara Duterte in May, during the electoral campaign, where she connects this narrative about the First Lady being detained to the arrest of Rodrigo Duterte by the International Criminal Court (ICC). On May 5 2025 the Vice President claimed:

Noong nagkaroon ng malaking krimen sa Estados Unidos na mayroong namatay dahil sa drug overdose at kung makikita ninyo sa police report ay nandoon ang pangalan ni First Lady Liza Marcos. Noong nagkaroon ng drug overdose at mayroong namatay sa Amerika at nandoon sa loob ng kwarto si First Lady Liza Marcos at nandoon sa police report, cocaine ‘yong sinasabing nagkalat doon sa kuwarto na ‘yon, ay bigla na lang nila hinila, kindinap, dinukot si Pangulong Duterte.

This narrative that the Vice President weaves is one that has been repeated by Duterte propagandists. It surfaced in response to the fact that while the first tsismis spewed was that the First Lady was detained on March 8, this was easily disproven by the First Lady’s official accounts, among many others: during the day she is seen with members of the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles, and in the afternoon and evening at the MIFF 50: Konsyerto Para sa Filipino at Cerritos Center for Performing Arts in California. She would also be in Manila by March 11, turning over donations to the Girl Scouts of the Philippines.

But being disproven by facts is rarely the end for these narratives, dependent as these are on insinuations and possibilities, mostly maliciously articulated. Once the detention was disproven, it was only a matter of time before they came up with a new way to spin the narrative—because again, the goal is to keep it going. And going.

Unknotting the narrative

On rotation on Duterte social media algorithms has been a police report with margins in pink. At the bottom of it is what the Duterte propagandists have used to drive a knife through the First Lady’s narrative: her name along with two others, calling her a “companion of the victim” who is “summoned for questioning.”

The Palace, through its Spokesperson Claire Castro, has called this bottom section of that document “fake”, saying that it was added to the original document which only details what had happened to Mr. Tantoco.

The Duterte propagandists, of course, will not have any of it. For one, they insist this is a matter of public interest, that someone who they claim was part of the First Lady’s entourage died of a drug overdose. For another, they insist that since public funds were used for this MIFF project and trip, that they—and we—have the right to ask about what unfolded, especially given what they claim to be a “big deal”.

The reasoning behind thinking this “a big deal” is different for all of them. For the noisiest and crassest among them, protected as she is by being in America, she claims that this is proof of a government being run like a drug syndicate, and we should all be angrily standing with her in her battle against it. For the ones who are in the Philippines and already at risk of being sued for libel and defamation, they insinuate that the fact that the First Lady evaded questioning gives the US leverage against us.

If these are far-fetched and out of this world, that is precisely the point I am making here. It is as absurd as the connection the Vice President has made between the Tantoco death and the arrest of her father, which implicates the First Lady in both.

At the heart of all of this is the worn-out and disproven yet sustained baseless insistence that the President is a cocaine addict. This is the bigger narrative that this smaller story about the First Lady sustains; this is the larger claim that these smaller stories are supposed to buttress. In the same way that these are sustained by a Harry Roque creating dance steps to the “bangag” song that is now on its nth iteration; in the same way that this is sustained by the worst of political discourse that seems to gleefully celebrate the death of a person, because it is a means to the end they’ve been working towards.

It is why it’s important that when we engage with stories such as this one, we contextualize it in how it’s been sustained by the Duterte side all this time; because the last thing we want to do is to encourage these narratives and layer it with our own sense-making. Yes, we can be critical of the Marcos government, but goodness gracious, we certainly can do it better than the best of the Duterte propagandists.

Accidents, propriety, sobriety

It was on March 11 2025 that the Philippine Consulate General posted a statement on the death of Mr. Juan Paolo Tantoco, the same day the family would officially make its announcement. On July 13 2025, the LA County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office report would be released online about Tantoco’s death, which is why we are speaking about it at all.

Duterte propagandists will insist this is a big deal and spew a whole lot of questions that they insist deserve answers. Yet, even on the surface, all of this makes sense.

Tantoco was obviously plus-one to his wife, who was on official duty as Deputy Social Secretary. As one who has been plus-one on low-key small-scale government-funded trips, this to me always means that I will spend for my own expenses, including flights, hotel room additions (if you’re staying in the same room), and meals. This also means that you are not tied to the itinerary or schedule of the delegation.

Given who Tantoco is, it seems safe enough to presume that he didn’t spend a cent of public funds to make this trip.

And let’s say that he was, in fact, seen at some of the parties related to MIFF—wouldn’t that have been simply his right, given that he is also a taxpayer whose taxes paid for that dinner? That is how I would rationalize my own meals were it given to me as plus-one.

Being plus-one also means that you are extraneous to the official delegation; you can decide freely what to do with your time, and you can engage in activities that are solely yours. What happened to Tantoco on March 8 was solely his and his wife’s business. That his wife might have been on official duty as Deputy Social Secretary doesn’t make this any more a public matter than if the accident happened in Manila, while the wife was working in Malacañang.

That the First Lady would carry on with her activities on March 8, despite the death of her Deputy Social Secretary’s husband, is also as expected. She needed to keep to her schedule and keep up appearances, if only to give the family time and space to inform children and elders, put affairs in order, and address the situation calmly, properly, and with as much clarity as possible.

This is what decency and propriety teach us to do. This is what pakikiramay means. If that is something we cannot even see anymore as valid, if it is something that we must question, then that says more about those asking these questions than it does about the First Lady.

What might in fact be truly controversial is the fact that we have a Vice President drawing far-fetched connections in the way her father did to justify his slapshod leadership, and a Presidential sister and Senator demanding that government violate the Tantocos’ right to privacy to feed the monster that is Duterte propaganda.

What is a big deal is that we are at a point where we cannot tell the difference anymore between irresponsible, unjust, baseless commentary that should be shut down at scale, and the kind of political discourse this democracy urgently needs.

 

 

Second-guessing the Senate

What does it mean for the impeachment trial, now that more than a majority of senators are reportedly supporting Senate President Chiz Escudero in the 20th Senate?

As many as 16 senators have already signed a resolution expressing support for Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero to remain as Senate president in the 20th Congress, Senator JV Ejercito said Tuesday [July 8]. https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/

It would seem that the 16 include the DDS senators.

Wednesday, [Senator Bato] Dela Rosa announced that the Duterte bloc, now known as Duter7, has pledged its support for Senate President Francis Escudero, who has been widely criticized for delaying the impeachment trial.

While he expressed uncertainty about the commitment of fellow Duter7 member Sen. Imee Marcos, Dela Rosa stated that the bloc is generally inclined to support Escudero’s continuation as Senate president.

Duter7 comprises Senators Dela Rosa, Marcos, Bong Go, Rodante Marcoleta, Robinhood Padilla, Camille Villar and Mark Villar. https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/07/10/

Samantala, Senator Tito Sotto‘s bid for the senate presidency is down to three supporters.

Senator Migz Zubiri said on Monday, July 7, [that he] is supporting Sotto’s bid, though he admitted they currently lack the numbers. He said the so-called “Veterans Bloc”— composed of himself, Sotto, and senators Loren Legarda and Ping Lacson — is also backing Sotto. https://www.rappler.com/

16 for Chiz and 4 for Sotto makes 20. Which leaves Senators Risa Hontiveros, Bam Aquino, and Kiko Pangilinan.

Senators Bam Aquino and Francis Pangilinan are likely to join the Senate majority in the 20th Congress, with expectations that they will chair the committees on education and on agriculture, respectively, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada said yesterday.  https://www.philstar.com/

Senator Migz Zubiri said on Monday, July 7, that opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros would be “most welcome” to join the Senate minority bloc of the 20th Congress if her allies, Senators Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan, ultimately decide to join the majority. https://www.rappler.com/

Sa tingin nila, nag-iisa na si Senator Risa.

MIGZ. I really feel sorry for Senator Risa. You know, she was always campaigning for her candidates. Then she said she would form her own independent bloc, but now she’s all alone. That’s what I heard, she’s now all alone. I cannot confirm or deny this. https://www.rappler.com/

So far neither Bam nor Kiko has confirmed or denied any of it, which tends to give credence to reports na pinagiisipan pa nila. Of course, the pinklawan Akbayan punditz are very upset. Is this any way to treat the lady, abandoning her, after she had campaigned for them, begged voters to vote for them, para may kasama, kakampi, siya sa senado?

Hmmm. I’m not sure the surprise spectacular showing of Bam and Kiko — #2 and #5 — was thanks mainly to Risa’s Akbayan pull. There was the INC, too, for Bam, and the Liberal Party for KiBam, and let’s not forget the Kiko-Shawie show-up at a Palace event celebrating Philippine cinema. I mean, you know, huwag naman angkinin sina Bam at Kiko.

Besides, I’m not (yet) convinced that a supermajority for Chiz as SP means a supermajority for dismissal of the impeachment complaint. I wouldn’t put it past Chiz to dangle committee chairmanships in exchange for the SP post but without compromising the impeachment.

Dela Rosa, who failed to get the impeachment case dismissed during the 19th Congress, said he plans to bring up the question of jurisdiction in the plenary after the 20th Congress opens on July 28. https://www.manilatimes.net/

I imagine that Chiz will allow Bato to try again, and that, after some debate, the question will  be decided by a majority vote based, I pray, not on fears of this or that consequence but, purely on the Senate’s constitutional mandate to hold certain very powerful public officials to the highest standards of accountability and integrity.

And yes, kahit matuloy ang trial, senators could block the opening of the Dutertes’ bank accounts, kung meron nga, but that’s par for the course. Whichever way it goes, much will be revealed, and we will all be the better (informed) for it.

As for Senator Risa, in her place I wouldn’t mind being the lone wolf, not if | when I have friends in the majority.

Whistleblowers, cyberlibel, impeachment

I tend to believe Senator Risa‘s story.  Whistleblower Michael Maurilio alias “Rene”, who testified in the Senate in early 2024 vs. KOJC lord Apollo Quiboloy, texted her last June 22 and 23 saying he had been kidnapped and was being held in a KOJC property in Davao City.  The very next day the June 24 YouTube video, allegedly of “Rene”, without the shades, facemask, and baseball cap, was released, taking back everything he said in 2024, this time accusing Risa of bribing him with a million bucks to lie under oath and testify against Digong, Sara, and Quiboloy. Senator Risa denies it all, of course, and without evidence that “Rene” lied the first time and speaks the truth now, it does seem to me like a case of witness tampering.

The DDS v/bloggers, however, who are mostly Quiboloy defenders, seem to believe “Rene”, or should I say, tend to give credence to his recantation, that is, to give him, and not Senator Risa, the benefit of the doubt. Even, to suggest that it was, is, all part of the senator’s alleged early campaign to run for president come 2028. Which, to my mind, only makes that “recantation” seem like part of a DDS campaign to discredit Senator Risa who could indeed pose a serious challenge to Sara come 2028.

At saka si “Rene” nga ba ‘yon? O kahugis at kaboses lang? Looking forward to NBI findings, also with regard to the 12 b/vloggers who disseminated the recantation video and its claims vs Risa accompanied by a lot of namecalling, from shokpok to evil to tanim-witness, atbpang pandudusta.

And meanwhile, economist Cielo Magno and Commodore Jay Tarriela have filed cyberlibel complaints vs. a DDS b/vlogger (one of the 12 named by Senator Risa) for malicious imputations damaging their reputations. At samantala rin, another whistleblower has surfaced, this one in the case of the missing sabungeros, accusing gambling lord Atong Ang of being the mastermind, na tila pinaniniwalaan ni DOJ Sec Boying Remulla.

Not that any of it is distracting from VP Sara’s impeachment case. Buhay na buhay pa rin ang balitaktakan sa social media, thanks to Ronald Llamas, who’s everywhere, kahit paulit-ulit lang, haha, but I guess it works.

I get asked kung sa palagay ko ay matutuloy pa ba ang trial, and I think yes, but not without more delaying tactics first. I also get asked kung kanino ako for senate prez, Chiz o Tito, and I say Chiz, despite all the bad press he’s getting, just because I choose to give him the benefit of the doubt, and I do think we need a lawyer to sit as Presiding Judge. Better him than Cayetano or Marcoleta.

19th Senate — “extreme cowardice” or “misplaced mercy”?

YEN MAKABENTA: With its refusal to do its constitutional duty to try Vice President Sara Dutere on an impeachment complaint filed against her by the House of Representatives, the Senate and its leadership have shown extreme cowardice in refusing to convene as an impeachment court and try the case.

This is institutional cowardice that should be rewarded accordingly. The nation should now study how it can sensibly fairly respond to this defiance of a constitutional mandate.

I don’t always agree with Makabenta and I’m not sure a constitutional amendment is the answer just because that would take, like, forever, but I have long wondered if the 18 senators who voted to remand the Articles of Impeachment are really just super wary, even scared, of displeasing the Dutertes who, according to the ICC Prosecution, still wield considerable influence especially in Davao.

Prosecution’s response to ‘Urgent Request for Interim Release’

16. In his capacity as the former President of the Philippines, Mr Duterte held the highest political office in the country for a period of six years. As a result of this position, Mr Duterte has maintained a network of support from powerful individuals within the Philippines. Further, many of Mr Duterte’s associates—including his family members—remain in positions of power with access to powerful domestic networks. This includes his daughter, Sara Duterte, who is Vice President of the Philippines and has made her position clear that she views her father’s detention at the Court as illegitimate. Further, in his filing before the Philippines Supreme Court, Mr Duterte’s counsel highlighted his current strong influence over the police in his home town of Davao – the same police department that the Prosecution alleges was involved in murders at his direction during the mayoral period.

23. Further, if released, Mr Duterte would have greater access to his associates and family who remain in positions of power with access to networks and personnel to carry out witness interference. As noted above, his daughter, Sara Duterte, is Vice President of the Philippines and a reserve colonel in the Army with strong links to the police and military. In these positions, she wields power and influence over governmental structures, as well as over her father’s former allies and supporters. Mr Duterte’s son, Sebastian Duterte, was the Mayor of Davao City. Following Mr Duterte’s election as Mayor, he now serves as Vice Mayor of Davao City. Under the relevant legislation, as Vice-Mayor, he performs the duties of the Mayor in the event of the absence of the Mayor and has the same powers and duties as the Mayor. Sebastian Duterte therefore maintains operational control under relevant domestic legislation for all police officers in Davao City.

And then again, could it also be a case of “misplaced mercy”, as in, nakakaáwà naman kasi sila, nakakulong na nga ang matanda, ii-impeach pa ang anak? Ito ang sumagi sa isip ko nang sabihin ni SP Chiz a few days ago that dismissal by a simple majority is still a possibility (or something like that) at ng isang senador, si  Alan “Remand” Peter yata yon, that the Supremes would then have to rule on the matter and if they take too long, well, then, there’s always next year. Ganoon.

Ang balita naman ni Ronald Llamas, Akbayan propagandist-cum-politicalheckler, on Chris Tan‘s Filipino.com chikahan kahapon, nagtawág daw si SP Chiz ng meeting ng mga senador bukas, a Sunday, “the day before June 30 kung saan hindi na sila 19th congress, biglang sinet.” Anong layunin, indeed. To dismiss the case?

Nagtataka lang ako na walang ibang media na nagbabalita ng miting na iyan. Did I hear wrong? If not, saan kaya napulot ni Llamas ang balita? Sinong nagbulong sa kanya? Credible ba? Imbitado ba lahat ng senador? Aling mga senador? 19th Senate ba, o 20th Senate na? Why is no one asking? Sa totoo lang.