Same cast, same script
Troll farms, weaponized social media, and disinformation pose a grave threat to Philippine democracy. (Photo: Rappler)
Instead of telling their children what happened during the Martial Law years, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) Director General Alex Paul Monteagudo espouses, parents should first teach their children to recite the alphabet and pray to God.
To no one’s surprise, NICA and NTF-ELCAC Spokesperson Lorraine Badoy have red-tagged children’s book publisher Adarna House. “What is dangerous here is you’re presenting an issue of Martial Law in children’s books. When you teach that to kids, you are planting seeds of hatred and dissent in the minds of these children,” Monteagudo said in an NTF-Elcac presser on Friday.
Adarna House is an award-winning, private family-run publishing house founded by National Artist Virgilio Almario in 1980, that is devoted to telling the Philippine story to young readers, to form “the Filipino child who loves and values his history, culture, and country.”
When the dictator’s son and namesake Ferdinand Marcos Jr. led the unofficial COMELEC count, Adarna House offered their #NeverAgain book bundle at a discount last Wednesday.
The titles in the bundle are “Ito ang Diktadura” (2017) by Equipo Plantel; “Edsa” (2013) by Russell Molina; “Isang Harding Papel” (2014) and “Si Jhun-Jhun, Noong Bago Ideklara ang Batas Militar” (2001) by Augie Rivera; and “The Magic Arrow” (2021) by Bolet Banal.
The devil works hard, but Malacañang works harder
On Monday, Malacañang’s official website, which also stored the Presidential Museum and Library that contained the historical records of the Martial Law regime under the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., had suddenly gone down.
The museum later issued a statement to allay the public’s fears regarding its website, that its contents were merely updated, security features improved, and would be made available to the public soon.
Columnist and editor Manuel Quezon III tweeted alternative links of historical materials that were stored within the website—some from The Official Gazette and Archive.org, a public domain where copies were uploaded.
This follows similar efforts on Twitter to archive documents, documentaries, books on Martial Law and the stories of its victims.
Kakampink by day, BBM troll by night
In April, Marcos dared critics on CNN, “Find me one. Show me one. Just one. They don’t exist. You show me the place where there are hundreds of trolls sitting in front of a computer spreading fake news. It doesn’t exist.”
Well, on May 10, an anonymous caller has just blown the whistle on troll farms for political campaigns.
In a live episode of radio show “Good Times” aired on Magic 89.9, the caller admitted to being part of a “think tank” running multiple social media accounts posing as organic individuals in support of electoral candidates. One of their biggest clients was Bongbong Marcos. Among the trolls were Atenean and UP graduates, vocal “Kakampinks”—or supporters of opposition leader Vice President Leni Robredo—from respected firms, who just couldn’t pass up an easy PHP 2.5 million.
The caller disclosed that the troll farms—supposedly based in offices in Leviste, Makati—would dig up old Facebook accounts to be bought then popularized by posting memes or content that people would like and share. Politicians would then offer large sums of money to buy these accounts, each having over 300,000 followers.
“They’re all telling me na kung saan yung money, doon tayo. Pero we’ll vote, at the end of the day, based on our conscience,” the caller claimed. A modern-day Pontius Pilate, if you will.
Inside the echo chamber
On Friday, Robredo held a thanksgiving event in Quezon City and urged her supporters to respect the results of the election.
“We need to accept the decision of the majority and I hope you will stand with me on this,” she said. “We cannot be the reason for further division in this country.” Robredo announced that she would put up the Angat Buhay Foundation to continue her programs after her term expires on June 30.
But Marcos supporters ignored her and Marcos’ own call for unity to assail Robredo for trying to form a “government within a government.”
“I watched VP Robredo’s speech last night. [It was scary],” one of the posts began. “They are [the] ones making a repeat of the divisive and disintegrating moves forcing the Marcos regime to declare martial law. Camouflaging as the biggest network of volunteerism, [just like the NPA].”
What may seem like a simple opinion post was echoed by several accounts in near verbatim.
Robredo’s spokesperson Barry Gutierrez has said that these new “scripts” appear to be part of the “same vicious and relentless wave of disinformation.”
“That such a straightforward intent to help is still being attacked by the troll machinery should worry us all, because this might just be the way the supposed victors will govern: by spreading lies, fomenting hatred, and sowing division,” Gutierrez warned.
