It’s time we recall with some bemusement the words of “columnist” Jose Ma. Montelibano in a 28th October 2011 article on the Inquirer.net…
That is why Noynoy Aquino is now president. What he is simply by character, a son of two heroes who were not stained by corruption or swallowed by power, and himself eager to be worthy of a legacy and capable of enhancing it, creates space and opportunity for democracy to move forward in the new activism of Filipino citizens. Though it may begin so innocently as volunteerism, it has purity and not afraid of adventure.
Many political pundits will not understand today where the popularity of P-Noy comes from when the answer has been staring them in the face from the very beginning. The popularity of P-Noy is derived from the angst of Filipinos to be rid of the filth of dishonesty and lies they have been fed with. The challenge of P-Noy is to stay the course of his character, the legacy he inherited and the bigger one he wants to build.
Within less than a week of the above blurb coming out, the concept of “new activism” that Montelibano ascribes to a social force that necessarily favours the personal and political interests of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, his government, his cadre of family and cronies, and his adoring “Yellow Horde” has become yet another irony surrounding a presidency beleaguered by banal ineptitude.
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Obviously any “new” activism will surely be effected in a new battleground. Interestingly enough, Manila Standard columnist Jojo Robles titles a recent piece with that exact term. In A new battleground, Robles’s description of this battlefield is anything but consistent with Montelibano’s romantic take. Instead of Montelibano’s picture of new media within the cosy embrace of Malacañang’s “Communications” team, Robles describes the digital equivalent of a well dug-in defensive force of gun emplacements and patrol sorties.
In his subsequent piece, The impromptu war, Robles offers us a glimpse of the Malacañang social media war room as it mounted an unsurprisingly sad and futile defense against the expected barrage of inquiries being fielded by administration critics over social media channels like Facebook and Twitter during the much-hyped appearance of President Aquino on the YouTube video series World View…
The top Internet propaganda strategist of Malacañang was in a foul-mouthed, hair-pulling rage. For an entire day last week, he and his army of paid Facebook page “administrators†and commenters were working as hard as they could, deleting critical posts and attempting to bury them under an avalanche of pro-government declarations and small talk.
And yet, for all their efforts, the critical questions and the occasional heckling would not be stopped. How was this possible, especially on this day, when the President was supposed to be answering sanitized questions softly thrown by a Google executive who had no idea at all of what was going on in the Philippines?
Ironic, considering that this is the same bunch of people who allegedly hijacked the original Noynoy Aquino Facebook fan page (BSA3) set up by Califorinia-based Ben Totanes and Betty Abrantes in 2009…
They were then enlisted by Vicente Romano III head of Aquino’s New Media Bureau (and whose claim to fame also comes from being one of the pioneers of on-line petition campaigns in Philippine politics after mounting such an effort against then President Joseph Estrada in 2000) into the campaign.
[…] Reported GMA News TV:
[…] after the election, Romano allegedly recommended that the fan page be shut down. Instead, Totanes and Abrantes offered to turn over administration of the page to the then newly-formed Presidential Communications Group on the condition that comments critical of the administration would not be removed.
“Sinabi ko sa kanila na pwede pa rin nila gamitin ito, nguni’t dapat pamalagiin itong ‘Feedback Forum’ ng sambayanang Pilipino, at huwag tatanggalin ang mga comments —pro or anti— ng mga tao,” he said.
(I told them that they can still use the fan page, as long as it’s maintained as a venue for feedback from the Filipino people. No comments must be removed, be they negative or positive.)
Coloma allegedly disagreed with Totanes’ conditions, and decided to set up a new official fan page, PresidentNoy at Facebook.com/PresidentNoy, in August this year.
And then…
On November 9, Totanes received an email directly from Facebook administrators saying that the BSA3 fan page “has been removed for violating (Facebook’s) Terms of Use.”
An official statement from Malacanang issued by Presidential Communications Group head Sec. Herminio Coloma declined to comment on whether Malacanang had a hand in the sudden closure of the original BSA3 page.
Armed with this bit of hindsight, it becomes a bit easier to make sense of the way Malacañang officials responded to the recent emergence of the now hit YouTube video Aquino-Cojuangcos: Facts They Don’t Want You To Know…
From Budget Secretary Florencio Abad:
“meant to distract attention from controversies like the departure bid of former President Arroyo”
“terrible”
“black propaganda”
From Aquino political adviser Roland Llamas:
“the work of forces who are now being threatened with numerous cases”
To be fair, when one suffers from an absolute lack of imagination, one tends to become absolutely predictable.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Abad is right. Its black propaganda.
Abad is so butthurt due to the fact about his incompetence just like his President.
YELLOW is the new BLACK. There’s nothing much worse than YELLOW PROPAGANDA, right?
spot on!
He is answering the truth, 2010 electioNs plng gnyan n gngwa sknila pero hnd pa rin sila nanaig.
do u know what a black propaganda is sir?
Black propaganda is false information and material that purports to be from a source on one side of a conflict, but is actually from the opposing side.
A fact is something that has really occurred or is actually the case.
all of the things cited in the video really happened, especially the hacienda massacre and the killing sprees so you cant call it a BLACK PROPAGANDA.
The video seems right. It looks like it was yellow propaganda that propelled the Aquinos to power.
the liberal party certainly knows how to dish it, but they can’t seem to take it.
the truth hurts, but i hope this will wake the zombies from their stupor.
the hardest people to wake up are the ones already awake…..
Guess what? I made a YouTube acct, commented and it got deleted! It shows takot siya sa mga banat naming mga sumusuporta kay Tito Noy dahil malalaos ito kapag nangyari y0n. Its obvious. That guy just want to profit. Kakahya,gagamit ka pa ng apelyido ng ibang tao para manira.
Comment mo siguro tulad ng mga comments mo dito—puro trolling style lang. Dito kasi mas tolerant lang sa ganyang trolling. Pinagbibigyan ka lang dito. Pero ingat ka baka mabwisit na rin sila sa’yo.
Vincenzo, I can hack you anytime, pero because we GRP people keep an open mind, I guess I should pass.
“Dito kasi mas tolerant lang sa ganyang trolling. Pinagbibigyan ka lang dito. Pero ingat ka baka mabwisit na rin sila sa’yo.”
Very well said, Felipe.
Hindi ka nga matinong kausap e. Sorry but yours is all noise and no substance. In other words, a PURE TROLL. 😛
If anyone delete your account, it was YouTube. The very same YouTube that aired PNoy’s live interview which you probably play on loop on your portable player. It’s unbiased. Or are you making more idiotic accusations here?
So yeah, if you were trollin’ – not to mention cursing – no surprises there. But it’s not like we expect you to get it.
Youre black propagandaing again. Paulit ulit na lang eh, nasagot na pala dati yan, balikan m nalang ang mga Q&As nila bout hL.
@Vincenzo B. Arellano
Anong nasagot?…Nasaan?
Pilit na ikinokontra lamang ng mga AbNoy supporters, pero hindi nila talagang nasagot o sinasagot—paano kasi totoo—The blood of those farmers and victims are crying out from their graves!
Sagot ba yung hinuhulaan lang ng AbNoy supporters kung sino at ang motibo ng gumawa nyan? Papaano nga naman nila kokontrahin, eh matagal nang naisa-publiko na kaalamang nyan?
Mga sinusuportahan mong sila AbNoynoy, Revilla, at Erap, puro merong mga lagim na nakaraan—Hindi mapagkakaila. Isip-isipin mo bakit masama mga napipili mong nasusuportahan—Ano ba ang talagang diperensya mo? Para sa kabutihan mo na rin ito at ng taumbayan.
SDO is nothing but a pure FARCE.
The heroism of the Aquinos were peddled by the Lopez Media, whose companies are the biggest contractors of Philippine government projects…It’s like a symbiotic political and economic relationship, between the Lopezes and the Aquinos… all Oligarchs. The Aquinos kept their busineness and Hacienda Luisita. Shore up Feudalism in our country. Since they are Feudal Lords. Make the Filipinos, OFW slave workers or Drug Mules, to float the economy.While they monopolize the best businesses, with their fellow Oligarchs…
They forgot…some Filipinos commenting on the Blogsites, are very much well educated. More informed about the world. Exposed throut the world…some have also military experinces in the Art of Warfare…they are confused on this…
Notice how those able to challenge the Aquino-Cojuangco clan are either killed or demonized by mainstream media.
Macoy challenged the Aquino-Cojuangco claim to Hacienda Luisita.
Cory and family (including AbNoy) were good friends with Gloria until Gloria opened up the Hacienda Luisita case favoring the farmers.
They were all demonized while the rest were simply executed during the time of Cory’s leadership. There’s blood in Cory’s hands. Well, if there’s any real justice in the afterlife, she’s suffering for them now despite her “saintly” image being popularized by mainstream media.
Any leader, president, reformer worth his or her salt knows that, at some point, they would need to address this issue and challenge this clan in order to truly move the country forward. Pinoy stupidy and subservience only benefit these oiigarchs, that’s why they contribute greatly to their rise.
The Philippines would have a tough time moving forward (if at all), unless we’re liberated, mind and body, from the manipulative clutches of the Aquino-Cojuangco clan. To be wealthy is good, but never at the expense of their fellow Filipinos (kung pinoy nga talaga tingin nila sa mga sarili nila.)
If there’s one thing laudable about GMA’s term, it’s that she had the BALLS to challenge the oligarchy controlling Meralco and Hacienda Luisita. Although she failed and is now paying dearly for it.
Of course the yellows will put their own spin to this, BUT THAT’S WHAT YOU CALL GUTS.
Heck, even Erap had his shining moment in Camp Abubakar and cracked the whip in the Globe-Smart telecom rift for the public good.
ABnoy’s legacy will forever be the Luneta massacre, typhoon Pedring, the great PPP failure, the 4Ps dole-outs, high treason of secret funding to enemies of the state, KKKs Rico Puno and LTOrres, AND MANY MORE FIASCOS AND DISASTERS SOON TO COME.
vincenzo is the cyber variant of ‘ the shakespeare monkey theory’
if he comments enough he thinks he will accidentally string some words together which make sense.
wrong
Yeah, like a primitive, glitchy Natural Language Processing algorithm, like SimSimi? LOL