IN the first two parts of this series, I explained how the DDS, or \"Diehard Duterte Supporters,\" morphed into existence after the May 2016 elections as an example of how social media platforms (i.e., Facebook) were overrun by \"social media famous\" nobodies. The throng who swarmed social media after 2016, however, had no sense of how important that moment was for Filipinos, mindlessly salivating over the personal gain that could potentially be had from this social media revolution.<\/p>\r\r
Consequently, social media became no different from the Philippine press, whom Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew chastised in 1988 as having essentially \"failed the Filipino people.\" Lee lambasted the Filipino media's failure to lead important national discussions concerning economic growth and inequitable distribution. In a previous column, I similarly opined that journalists failed our people by lusting after partisan politics in the country, as an onrush of media men ran for public office while media networks maneuvered to become kingmakers in Philippine politics.<\/p>\r\r
Melinda de Jesus heralded the crucial role played by the Philippine press in fighting government corruption that \"contributed to the firing of corrupt officials, forced government agencies to investigate cases and even brought about the impeachment of a president (2000) and a chief justice of the Supreme Court (2011).\" However, it was not an authentic crusade for justice. Rather it provided an opportunity for the media to flex its power to (make and) unmake the highest officials of the land and cultivated a sense of fear among politicians and businessmen about what they can do to them personally and their vital interests. It was an occasion to advertise media power, further emboldening media avarice to open more vistas for corruption.<\/p>\r\r
Had the Filipino press been true guardians of democracy, they would have sided with Sen. Joker Arroyo during the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona in 2011. Joker viewed the impeachment of Corona as a classic \"bill of attainder\" defined by the Cornell Law School as \"a piece of legislation that declares a party... guilty of a crime... [and] allow[s] the government to punish a party for a perceived crime without first going through the trial process,\" which damaged rather than strengthened the country's democratic institutions.<\/p>\r\r
The wisdom of Arroyo, a respected legal luminary with an unblemished record as a human rights advocate, and broadly regarded as a maverick politician who did not align himself with any clear partisan political interests, was thoroughly ignored by the media. Instead, journalists relished their role in the Corona impeachment as they did in the impeachment of President Joseph Estrada in 2000, advertising the power of the press and opening doors for profitable opportunities in corruption, bribery and influence peddling.<\/p>\r\r
De Jesus listed \"a rich taxonomy\" of media corruption, including the following:<\/p>\r\r
\u2013 AC-DC (Attack-Collect-Defend-Collect): A kind of journalism where the reporter attacks a person in order to collect money from that person's rival or enemy. The same journalist then defends the person originally attacked, also for a fee.<\/p>\r\r
\u2013 ATM journalism: a practice in which reporters receive discreet and regular payoffs through their ATM accounts.<\/p>\r\r
\u2013 Blood money: A payoff before publication to ensure that a story or a critical article is killed, or else slanted to favor whoever is paying.<\/p>\r\r
\u2013 Envelopmental journalism: refers to various forms of media corruption.<\/p>\r\r
\u2013 Intelligentsia: A play on \"intelligence\" as used by police and other security forces; this is the share of journalists on the police beat of bribe or protection money given to police.<\/p>\r\r
Social media is now following in the same corrupt footsteps of mainstream media.<\/p>\r\r
In the midst of the dizzying chaos and anarchy of social media, self-interested, unscrupulous and greedy personalities created new opportunities to fatten their pockets by exploiting the passions of their unsuspecting followers. Efren Isorena succinctly pointed out that nothing prevents influencers from being professionally compensated for their (political) work in social media. However, these influencers are wont to commit a wicked venality by misleading their followers, cleverly diverting them away from their core (political) principles into the welcoming arms of their paying political benefactors. This corresponds to the DDS Double Agents' budol tactics targeting their unsuspecting followers, as I have explained in last week's column.<\/p>\r\r
As everyone knows, the Dutertes and the Marcoses have recently locked horns politically. In that context, Sen. Imee Marcos and former interior secretary Benhur Abalos (Bongbong Marcos' campaign manager during the 2022 presidential elections) have engaged the services of the DDS double agents \u2014 according to the testimonies of anonymous sources \u2014 precisely to budol the DDS into supporting their candidacies in the upcoming 2025 midterm elections.<\/p>\r\r
Incidentally, it seems that other senatorial aspirants in the Marcos administration's Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas have not engaged DDS bloggers \u2014 not yet \u2014 for the 2025 elections.<\/p>\r\r
The Marcoses have been away from national politics for so long that they do not seem to have any existing national political network to support them. Bongbong Marcos infamously rode the coattails of Sara Duterte for victory in the 2022 elections. Imee Marcos, for her part, was carried to a Senate seat in 2019 by the popular perception that the Dutertes and Marcoses were political allies. Then-president Rodrigo Duterte was at the height of his popularity at that point.<\/p>\r\r
For his entire political career, Abalos has been a local politician in the city of Mandaluyong (as the heir of his father Benjamin Abalos Sr.) and is wanting in national profile despite being the interior secretary for two years. This shortcoming may have necessitated the recruitment of the DDS double agents, according to social media chismis.<\/p>\r\r
Others in the pro-Marcos slate are former and reelectionist senators with firmly established national political networks such as Tito Sotto (gunning for a record fifth senatorial term); Ping Lacson, Pia Cayetano, Lito Lapid and Bong Revilla (all aiming for a fourth term); and Manny Pacquiao and Francis Tolentino (targeting a second term).<\/p>\r\r
For their part, Makati Mayor Abby Binay, former social welfare secretary Erwin Tulfo and Rep. Camille Villar are either siblings or children of current and former senators.<\/p>\r\r
To be continued next<\/p>\r\r
Friday, Jan. 10, 2025<\/p>","article_custom_fields":"{\"\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_keywords\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_description\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_title\":[\"\"],\"sponsored_flag\":[\"\"],\"offer_flag\":[\"off\"],\"featured_article_flag\":[\"\"],\"drupal_json\":[\"{\\\"type\\\":null,\\\"properties\\\":{\\\"PUBLISHED\\\":0,\\\"PROMOTED\\\":0,\\\"STICKY\\\":0},\\\"fields\\\":[]}\"],\"wp_custom_json\":[\"{\\\"type\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"fields\\\":[]}\"],\"article_tags\":[\"\"],\"show_image\":[\"off\"],\"Disable_Ad\":[\"off\"],\"disable_player\":[\"off\"],\"column\":[\"\"],\"kicker\":[\"\"],\"edel\":[\"on\"],\"delu\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tmt.news\\\/DE20250103A6\"],\"delt\":[\"Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.\"],\"premium\":[\"off\"],\"Redirect_URL\":[\"\"],\"Registration_required\":[\"off\"],\"background_image\":[\"off\"],\"user_needs\":[\"\"],\"page_number\":\"0\",\"initial_publication\":\"\",\"date_created\":\"2025-01-02 22:49:51\",\"date_modified\":\"2025-01-03 08:49:24\",\"last_modified_user\":\"Sherwin Arnaiz\",\"section_color\":\"\",\"target_page\":\"0\",\"cxense_metatags\":null}","cms_type":"live","author_id":1575,"section_id":13,"seo_meta_keywords":"DDS,double,agents:,A,history","seo_meta_description":"","seo_meta_title":"DDS double agents: A history","publish_time":"2025-01-03 00:08:00","related_articles_ids":"","article_tags":"","sub_section_id":6,"visit_count":410,"sponsored_flag":0,"offer_flag":0,"featured_article_flag":0,"media_gallery_flag":0,"video_gallery_flag":0,"highlight_flag":0,"top_story_flag":0,"is_updated":0,"is_old_article":0,"old_article_id":0,"article_byline":"Van Ybiernas","ts":"2025-01-13 11:43:53","last_edited":"2025-01-03 08:49:24","alt_publish_time":"2025-01-02 22:51:07","image_path":"{\\\"image_path\\\":\\\"manilatimes\\\\\/uploads\\\\\/images\\\\\/2025\\\\\/01\\\\\/02\\\\\/504262.jpg\\\",\\\"cms_type\\\":\\\"live\\\",\\\"small_image\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"is_updated\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"image_cropping\\\":\\\"{\\\\\\\"original_image\\\\\\\":{\\\\\\\"image_original_width\\\\\\\":1200,\\\\\\\"image_original_height\\\\\\\":630,\\\\\\\"icd_image_type\\\\\\\":\\\\\\\"original_image\\\\\\\"},\\\\\\\"main_image\\\\\\\":{\\\\\\\"image_main_width\\\\\\\":1200,\\\\\\\"image_main_height\\\\\\\":630,\\\\\\\"icd_image_type\\\\\\\":\\\\\\\"main_image\\\\\\\"}}\\\",\\\"is_copied\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"media_type\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"image_caption\\\":\\\"VAN YBIERNAS\\\",\\\"image_alt_text\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"image_count\\\":1}","author_name":"Van Ybiernas","section_name":"Opinion","sub_section_name":"Columns","slide_show":0,"breaking_news":0,"visit_count_update_date":"2025-01-13 11:43:53","old_cms_article_id":null,"permalink":"2025\/01\/03\/opinion\/columns\/dds-double-agents-a-history\/2029454","show_image_in_thumb":0,"api_status":2,"a_custom_data":"{\"exclude_from_gallery\":null,\"lead_image_id\":null}","publication_id":2,"max_publish_time":"2025-01-03 00:08:00","page_number":"","homepage_article_flag":0,"article_shortlink":null,"cropped_image":0};
IN the first two parts of this series, I explained how the DDS, or "Diehard Duterte Supporters," morphed into existence after the May 2016 elections as an example of how social media platforms (i.e., Facebook) were overrun by "social media famous" nobodies. The throng who swarmed social media after 2016, however, had no sense of how important that moment was for Filipinos, mindlessly salivating over the personal gain that could potentially be had from this social media revolution.
