Part five of seven. Edwin Espejo published this series on Facebook in June and July 2021. It is republished here in full and lightly copyedited; the introduction below is mine, not his. I am a subject of the series as well as its publisher. It concerns the 2016 campaign and not subsequent events, including the proceedings now before the International Criminal Court. Full editorial note and series index →
Introduction by Nic Gabunada
The script is as predictable as it is tired. Every time the political season heats up, the story about decapitating the trolls comes back around, usually with the same innuendos attached to the same name.
I have watched it arrive often enough to know its timing better than its authors do. What strikes me now is how little it has ever cost the people who deploy it, and how much it has cost them politically without their noticing. Dismissing several million voters as paid hacks is not an analysis. It is a way of not having to produce one.
Edwin takes up that pattern here, including the DOF contract coverage that prompted him to write the series in the first place.
— Nic Gabunada
Decapitating the ‘Trolls’ of Duterte
Fifth of a series
By Edwin Espejo | June 30, 2021
Despite the long absence of Gabunada from Facebook and the disabling of ‘hundreds’ of pro-Duterte accounts and pages, Duterte’s netizen supporters continue to dominate the social network platform.
It is with this sustained and continuing dominance that contributed to the bad beating of the opposition candidates in the 2019 mid-term elections. None of the Liberal Party candidates in its senatorial slate, including incumbents, won.
Moreover, despite the incessant attacks on Duterte, his popularity rating has never been dented and he continues to maintain a high trust rating from Day One and at noon exactly a year today before his presidency expires in 2022.
Unable to penetrate the almost impregnable gauntlet Duterte has built over the years, his critics are back targeting the core of Duterte supporters including their perceived ‘operators.’
It is by no mere coincidence that Gabunada is again being targeted as the political season is again heating up.
The contract he signed with the Department of Finance was maliciously filled with innuendos and the double entendre by the mainstream media in their headlines. It was only after Gabunada hit back with a statement that his lawyers are evaluating the stories that they reached out to him and got his side — but not before publishing them without even attempting to interview him.
(To be continued)
Edwin Espejo is a journalist based in General Santos City who has written for Asian Correspondent and MindaNews and shoots for Agence France-Presse. He chaired the General Santos City chapter of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, and in 2012 was sued for ₱75 million by then-congressman Manny Pacquiao over his reporting. He served as a commissioner of the National Commission of Senior Citizens from January 2021 to April 2026, including when this series was written. Fuller biographical note →
Notes:
Decapitating the ‘trolls’ of Duterte — Edwin Espejo’s seven-part series
Part 1 — Decapitating the ‘trolls’ of Duterte: A 7-Part Retrospective
Part 2 — The Anatomy of a Disconnect: Why the ‘Troll’ Narrative Failed to Explain 2016
Part 3 — The Unseen Momentum: Rewriting the Rules of Engagement
Part 4 — A Target Board Over My Back
Part 5 — The Story That Comes Back Every Election Season (you are here)
Part 6 — The Ad Men Can Only Be as Good as the Product
Part 7 — Beyond the ‘Troll’ Label: A Reality Check for the Opposition
This post was published on March 23, 2024. My introduction has been revised. The original text has been lightly copyedited for typographical errors. No argument, characterization or judgment in Edwin Espejo’s original has been altered.
