DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 22 June) – Rodrigo Duterte’s contrasting pronouncements on Charter change (Cha Cha) when he was still the President and now as a plain citizen have been merged into a 1:12-minute long manipulated video.
The manipulated and paid video content by Davao Secret Blog, one of the Facebook pages managed by Sartine IT Solutions, is an indication of an apparent influence operation to discredit the former President and erode his popularity. The video was originally posted last February 1 and revived through a sponsored ad on the popular social media platform Facebook that started running last May 12 and is still active as of June 8, 2024.
Tech company Sartine IT is linked to technology firm Breyalex. In 2018, the Guam-based Pacific News Center reported that Breyalex was allegedly behind the troll operations during the gubernatorial race in such United States territory.
IO involves the use of disinformation, propaganda and other harmful content (such as harassment and attacks), delivered in different formats, in a manner that coerces or manipulates behavior and polarizes society. It is motivated by either financial, geopolitical, cultural, ideological, institutional, and/or policy interests.
DISARM Foundation, a United States-based non-profit engaged in monitoring, and understanding disinformation behavior in online platforms, stated that a more visible influence operation is when a certain organization or party will drive traffic or engagement, such as buying Facebook pages to distribute content and make their content more visible and reach more audiences. This is called “information pollution.”
Captioned “Former Pres. Duterte on Charter Change: Digong 2018 vs Digong 2024,” the post generated 7.4K reactions, 980 comments and 316 shares as of 5:44 p.m. on June 8, 2024.
“If you want to change the Constitution, do it now,” Duterte said in the video with the heading “Duterte Charter Change.” He made this pronouncement on July 8, 2019, after announcing his endorsement for a term-sharing in the speakership of the House of Representatives then.
This was followed by a clip from his 2018 SONA, showing him saying: “I therefore consider it a distinct honor and privilege to have received earlier from the Consultative Committee that I created, the draft Federal Constitution that will truly embody the ideals and aspirations of all the Filipino people…I am confident that the Filipino people will stand behind us as we introduce this new fundamental law.”
In the next clip, taken from his speech on June 25, 2019 during the oath-taking of newly-elected local officials and Hugpong ng Pagbabago senators, Duterte said: “If you do not want federalism, fine. But change the Constitution, change the Constitution, that would really change this nation (change this nation).” The creators manipulated the video to repeat the words “change the constitution” and “change this nation” twice with voice underscoring to emphasize the former President’s point.
A robotic voice then segued with the phrase “a few moments later,” followed by a video clip of the January 28, 2024 Hakbang ng Maisug rally in Davao City, which was about six years after Duterte’s 2018 SONA, rolled out with Duterte saying: Bakit pumasok sa utak ninyo yang people’s initiative? Anong nakain ninyo? There’s nothing wrong with the Constitution right now, the environment in the Philippines seems to be positive, okay.
Then a voice over said “Anong nangyari?” – after which the video showed Duterte with the words: “Before, Yes; After, No.”
It was referring to the pro ChaCha stand of Duterte when he was still the President and now that he is no longer in power.
The Commission on Elections suspended its proceedings on the alleged people’s initiative (PI) to change the 1987 Constitution last January 29.
After the the Comelec suspended its proceedings on the alleged PI, the Hakbang ng Maisug, a group identified with the Duterte camp, continues to hold prayer rallies that oppose Cha Cha in other parts of the country, the latest of which was in Tacloban City last May 25. The scheduled rally in Tacloban, bailiwick of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s mother, former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos, was cancelled reportedly due to bad weather. Former President Duterte, however, accused the Marcos administration of “stifling dissent.”
The Hakbang ng Maisug has brought its prayer rallies abroad, targeting overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), to oppose not just Charter change but also to expose alleged corruption in the Marcos administration. The group held peaceful prayer rallies against Cha Cha in New York City, USA on June 6 and in Saitama Prefecture, Japan on June 8, both attended by lawyer Vic Rodriguez, former Executive Secretary and spokesperson of President Marcos.
Based on Comelec’s data for the May 2022 elections, there were 1,697,215 OFW voters, both land- and sea-based. During the 2016 Presidential polls, Duterte garnered majority of the OFW votes.
The Davao Secret Blog’s manipulated video content was reshared by several users, including Social Media Vlog Ph (1.9K followers) and reposted at Facebook group Immortal White Rock Church of Enoch and Elijah, Inc. Ponce, Davao City (569 members).
Pilipinas Today, which is part of Sartine’s network of pages on Facebook, published the same content last January 31, which garnered 11K reactions, 3K comments and 1.4 million views as of 6 p.m. on June 8.
Davao Secret Blog spent P30 to P35K for the content that started running last May 12 and expected to appear one million times on screen, according to Meta’s Ad Library, where advertisement details on the platform can be seen.
In this ad, 39 percent of the ad’s target audiences reached Facebook users in the Davao region.
Davao Secret Blog’s previous name was Davao Secret Confession, a page created on April 21, 2017 that posts contents about relationships and steamy sexual encounters. The change of name took place on September 11, 2019. The page has 187,000 likes and 230,000 followers as of June 8.
Meta frowns upon the use of its Facebook platform to mislead followers, which in the case of the Davao Secret Blog is through the posting of the manipulated video of Duterte on the Cha Cha issue.
Davao Secret Blog is managed by Sartine IT Solutions, which according to its “About Us” section, is a company “that offers Online Reputation Management services and services to businesses and political parties who want to “change audience behavior.”
MindaNews earlier published a story involving Sartine’s network of pages on Facebook, which included Davao Secret Blog, that posted organic and paid contents pushing for Cha Cha in a seemingly coordinated manner, an indication of an apparent influence operation.
To be clear, influence operation is not illegal in the Philippines. IO uses inauthentic, deceptive and/or concealed procedures, spread using either social media, news, or even messaging apps. It involves the use of disinformation, propaganda and other harmful content (such as harassment and attacks), delivered in different formats, in a manner that coerces or manipulates behavior and polarizes society, according to a definition by a shared network of Philippine media organizations dedicated to identifying, analyzing and investigating influence operations in the country.
Davao Secret Blog’s contents include politics. Scrolling on its page, many political contents are pro-Marcos and pro-House Speaker Martin Romualdez, the President’s first cousin.
Romualdez had been accused as behind the alleged people’s initiative (PI) to change the 1987 Constitution. He denied the accusation, including the purportedly buying of signatures affixed to the PI.
The elder Duterte is opposing the people’s initiative to change the Charter, and since January has been going around the country to rally the public to reject it. During the January 28 rally in Davao City, he accused President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s wife Liza and Speaker Martin Romualdez to be behind the buying of signatures for a people’s initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution. Duterte also called Marcos “bangag” or high on drugs during the event.
In a Facebook post last January 9, Duterte’s son Paolo, 1st District Representative of Davao City, said he was against “this people’s initiative as this is not the people’s voice but the voice of a few who wanted to perpetuate themselves in power.”
“To all Dabawenyos, do not sell your soul for a mere P100 or 10,000 in exchange for your signature,” he said. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
(This alert was produced with support from an Internews initiative aiming to build the capacity of news organizations to understand and monitor disinformation and influence operations in the Philippines.)
