University of Rizal System - Angono

College of Education

First Semester
Readings in Philippine History

The Rise of The Trolls in the Philippines and (What we can do

about it.)

Lugtu, Andrei Louie C.

Villones, James Harold
Andales, Margie
Lozada, Roselle

Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in Filipino – 1B

[Link] ( VILLONES, JAMES HAROLD)

The Rise of The Trolls in the Philippines and (What we can do about it.) "Was published
in September 2017 but it was accepted on 13 of June Year 2017 and it was written by
Two Authors, Jayson Vincent Cabanes, and Jayeel Cornelio.

1.1 Background of the Author/s

The First Author is Jayson Vincent Cabanes, a Professor of Communication at De La
Salle University Manila in The Philippines. He is currently Chair of the Ethnicity and
Race of Communication Division of the International Communication Association. He is
also Associate Editor of Communication, Culture, and Critique.

The second Author is Jayeel Cornelio is Associate Professor and the Director of the
Development Studies Program at the Ateneo de Manila University and Honorary
Research Associate at the Divinity School of Chung Chi College at the Chinese
University of Hong Kong. He is Associate Editor of the Journal Social Sciences and
Missions(Brill), has published extensively on religion in the Philippines. The broad
theme of his work is religious change with respect to youth, politics, and development.

1.2 Recommendations from Reliable Sources

In this article, the Author listed all of the references in great detail, so that anyone who
read this written report may have a better understanding whether the author's claim is
factual. Also, it is very important to everyone who will see or read this article to
determine whether the information they see is accurate or not.

Abstract
This chapter contributes to efforts at establishing a general account of the increasingly
vitriolic online political trolling coming out of many democratically inclined societies. It
pays particular attention to the rise of online political trolling in the Philippines. We
provide sociological explanations for this phenomenon and assess whether and how
this plays a role in fostering a democratic media in the country. We begin by considering
the definition of an online political troll. We argue that in the Philippines, as in many
other contexts, one needs to be careful in approaching such a contested term. We then
look at the role of the online political troll in Philippine politics. We attend to how they
have gained unprecedented popularity through the distinct dynamics of the country’s
democracy but also to how they have undermined the possibility of making this very
same democracy better. We conclude by turning to normative frameworks that might
help the public sphere move away from the pernicious predominance of toxic online
political trolling.
SUMMARY (ANDALES, MARGIE)
THE RISE OF TROLLS IN THE PHILIPPINES (AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT)

The Promise of Social media is to Democratize Public participation. But accompanying

it is the curse of hate.

As some observers have pointed out, some of the key perpetrators of this
virulence are President Rodrigo Duterte’s Supporters. They are social media users with
both verified and suspicious accounts who seem to take every opportunity to attack
Duterte’s Critics. In the Philippines, these activities began appearing not soon after,
starting as well in the early 1990’s and further ratcheting up by the early 2000’s with the
lifting of the ban or political advertisement in the mainstream media (Bionat 1998;
Perron 2008). Emblematic of these trolling activities, wins the campaign to label the late
Senator Meriam Defensor- Satiago “Brenda” (which was short for brain damage).
Otherwise there are ways on how to define and how the rise of trolls reflect.
Defining the online political troll. Today’s popular conception of the online political troll is
an amalgam of two distinct ideas that have preceded the first one is political trolling,
today’s online political troll is often understood to be someone who uses the practices of
online trolling as part of a negative political campaign.
On the other hand, the reflection of online political trolls, most especially of the
vitriolic kind cannot be easily reduced to the crucial role of political machineries and
their operations, beyond the 2016 election cycle campaign strategies have continued to
work with similarly structured “black ops” projects. These are agencies, PR firms, and/
or media organizations. They would gather a small team of about five individuals to
create and maintain troll accounts on small media, primarily on Facebook.
Thinking of the future beyond the online political troll, the final contribution of this
piece lies in thinking about the ethical implications of trolling in relation to politics in the
Philippines in general and the media democratization in particular. Understand trolling
and who constitutes trolls and how we might imagine a more democratic media that can
move beyond the need for trolls. To those who are affected by professional trolls, for
example, their anger and frustration are understandable. Many of them are also
legitimate owners of social media accounts, which they used to engage the public
sphere.
A sense of moral panic is discernible, for example, in Renee Juliene M.
Karunungan responds to the threats she received when she campaigned against
Duterte in 2016 karunungan’s brief commentary is as much about society as it is about
trolling. One problem though is that it is not clear what “becoming human again” means
and whether it refers to a condition that existed before trolls arose. The other problem is
that it is also not the owner of both.
In the past, populist publics who supported such figures as Joseph Estrada and
Jejomar Binay were also framed as unintelligent. The conflation of these different
entities is not helpful especially in trying to understand the logics of a particular
supported base. Our other ethical concern has to do with how we might imagine a more
democratic media. At the level of the individual. It is important for online users to rethink
how they respond to those whom they perceive to be trolls. We must therefore be
concerned about the management of trolls and ensuring the quality of conversations on
the internet.
At this point, however, online political trolls have hijacked much of the spaces.
News companies and other social media actors are left with little choice but to play the
crucial but inadequate rote of reclaiming it but simply reclaiming the space will no longer
do. Task is to reimagine it.

ANALYSIS (LUGTU, ANDREI LOUIE C.)

The topic is about the Rise of The Trolls in the Philippines and (What we can do about
it.) And here the points we wanted to emphasize:
● The idea of Political trolling and Online Trolling. One is political trolling. This idea,
as we have mentioned earlier, was established even before the arrival of Web
2.0. It pertains to how political communication strategists employ negative
campaign tactics in harnessing media for political gain (Burroughs 2013) and The
other idea is online trolling. It has its origins in the 1990s, when its use was, at
the time, not necessarily related to political activities. It instead pertained to any
individual’s attempt to generate a reaction from others by posting provocative or
offensive online messages on what was then known as Usenet boards (Bishop
2014). The authors define what trolling really is. Trolls need the three elements to
perform and achieve successful trolling which are deception, provocation, and
futile conversations. They describe how trolling works and the meaning of it. But
despite defining it, There's a gray area that it's really hard to distinguish between
professional trolls and real individuals expressing opinions, posting, or giving
reactions to certain phenomena. Our other ethical concern has to do with how we
might imagine a more democratic media. At the level of the individual, it is
important for online users to rethink how they respond to those whom they
perceive to be trolls.

● “Trolling has become readily associated with Duterte's supporters, who defend
him against his critics and exalt him “as the father of the nation deserving the
support of all Filipinos” (Ressa 2016). We see how useful political trolling is in
this statement. And how these trolls were hijacking conversations of legitimate
social media account owners. As a strategist involved in using trolls put it, the
aim was to make ordinary individuals “become a servant of the ideology that
these fake trolls have injected you with” (Caruncho 2016a). I hate the ideology
that people are being fan of politicians, being a diehard fan for a person,
defending them even if they committed crimes and violation. Some politicians
are populist leaders and opportunists, they touch the heart of the people and act
that they are really concerned just to attract votes. Politicians are not heroes,
they are just professionals who serve the nation, and we are the nation that
deserves to have good governance. It's okay to clap for them if they really have
good leadership, but we should always remember that, that's their work. We
should not devote ourselves to the politicians but we should devote ourselves to
our country.

● “Renee Juliene M. Karunungan's response to the threats she received when she
campaigned against Duterte in 2016: “More than the need to re-evaluate and
change the government and the system, it's time we re-evaluate ourselves,
check our values, and start becoming human again.” I love the way she
responded to the issue. One toxic Filipino culture that we should not tolerate any
more. Although in this part, She doesn't know who sent this death threat, if a
professional troll or legitimate account. But because of being a die-hard fan of
certain politicians we forget to be human. We're being immoral just to protect the
image of certain politicians. How come that we cared a lot for the image of our
leaders but how careless we are in protecting our own country.

To sum it up, this Article helps a lot to understand how political trolls are working, but
unfortunately, despite explaining it. It's still really hard to determine who's the real troll
and legitimate individual because trolls are hiding in democracy. That's why we should
be vigilant and wise in interacting in cyber spaces. We should create a democratic
media for everyone. Therefore, we must do fact checking, re-thinking, and evaluation of
ourselves to create a safer environment for each and everyone.

CONCLUSION (LOZADA, ROSELLE)

LThis research defines online political trolls as those who engage in the three aspects
of deceit, provocation, and useless argument. These trolls are alleged to be behind fake
social media profiles that promote political candidates by invading online conversations,
particularly on Facebook, to promote causes or politicians. This is similar to what
happened in the 2016 election.

This study is enlightening people and giving knowledge about these political trolls'
existence. It gives information about online trolling and its potential risks, and it gives us
an opportunity to have a broad view of every trolling experience that we may have. Also,
this study is not only for those under the political or under these so-called "trolls," but for
the rest of the online community who may encounter this problem. It makes people
aware that they should be careful and vigilant about what they see on social media. Not
all of this is legit, but more of it is fake or done by trolls. Another benefit of this study is
that it provides a great platform for everyone to learn about how trolls operate and the
consequences of not being informed. It also teaches us to be mindful that what is
happening online can be far from what is happening in reality. It can be a matter of
advertising or fighting for others' perspective or opinion.

The study as a whole is outstanding because all of the various views or points of
view were clearly stated. All of the material provided was accurate, and there was no
evidence of bias that led us to believe the writers were from the Dilawan, or DDs, or any
political opponent of the man in the article. Trolls' rise is described in a transparent and
informative manner. Overall, the piece was well-written. It highlights the issue, which is
the potential risks of online political trolls that anybody can encounter, and it offers two
major solutions to the problem: creating a flexible social space for individuals of all
beliefs, and reconfiguring the truth.

REFERENCE
•The Rise of the Political Trolls in the Philippines (and what we can do about it)
•[Link]
Cabanes, JVA and Cornelio, JS (2017) The rise of trolls in the Philippines (and what we
can do about it). In: Curato, N, (ed.) A Duterte Reader: Critical Essays On Rodrigo
Duterte's Early Presidency. Ateneo de Manila University Press , Quezon City,
Philippines , pp. 231-250. ISBN 978-971-550-793-6