Paul Vincent R.

Laureta

STEM 12- Marconi

How social media revised historical narrative that led to Marcos' victory

Manila – A video of Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. telling an election
rally crowd that he received a huge help winning from his social media team – mentioning at least three
names – made the rounds of all platforms just after the May 9 elections.

Chuck Treńas, a 33-year-old netizen who is abreast with current events, said the video proved
that the late dictator’s namesake son was lying from the very beginning when he first said he had no
social media team, much less a troll farm to discredit his critics.

“My friends and I spent days going back eight, 10 and more years, and indeed, the Marcos
family’s presence on social media throughout that entire period and to this day was evident,” said
Treńas. “The one, huge problem we have from this fact is that Filipinos believed the videos and posts, so
they voted for him.”

Elsewhere, the Philippine and international media have reported about how the Marcos family’s
supporters worked for years to reformat the narrative regarding the Marcoses during the darkest years
of martial rule. The revised narrative claims the Marcos regime marked the nation’s golden years of
economic progress and stability.

The 63-year-old Marcos Jr. campaigned on this exact premise and promise – to bring back what
he falsely claimed was the golden period of his father’s rule – and won the elections, even without
presenting a platform.

Several Marcos supporters are vloggers and bloggers, who use Facebook and Tiktok to distort
history and hide the Marcoses’ criminal past through millions of social media posts.

The World Bank and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime have reported that the
Marcos family amassed as much as $10 billion in ill-gotten wealth. The UN has also reported that more
than 3,000 Filipinos were killed and 35,000 were arrested and tortured during the martial law period.

A recent story by Rappler said the Marcos network painstakingly seeded disinformation and
reshaped the narrative surrounding the Marcoses on Facebook over the years prior to building an entire
army of Marcos supporters.

“From 2014 to 2022, Marcos Jr., astutely made use of Facebook to change the narrative
regarding his family and their crimes against the Filipino people – a move seeded over the years, leading
to the 2022 Philippine elections,” said the Rappler report, which indicated that while the Marcos
disinformation machinery also used Twitter, his supporters used mainly Tiktok and Facebook.

Rappler’s story quoting a research specialist also noted that from 2014 to 2020, Marcosian posts
gradually grew – especially during Marcos Jr.’s 2016 vice-presidential run; his sister Imee’s 2019
senatorial win; and his 2021 filing of candidacy. The myth behind the “Marcos gold,” a topic repeatedly
fact-checked and discussed by Rappler, “remained unchecked on the platform, before it mutated to its
different variations over the years.”

Treńas said he did not vote for Marcos because his knowledge of the country’s past remains to
him as the truth. He said he still couldn’t believe how millions of Filipinos believed what Marcos peddled
on social media.

“That Marcos is the next president for the next six years shows how gullible and impressionable
Filipinos can be,” he said. “The whole world couldn’t even grasp how it happened but it did. And for
that, I am ashamed and will be like that for many years.”

Reference:

Diana G. Mendoza (June 30, 2022). How social media revised historical narrative that led to Marcos'
victory. https://www.pacificislandtimes.com/post/how-social-media-revised-historical-
narrative-that-led-to-marcos-victory

Summary:

Based on the report, Marcoses uses Media and Information in the Internet to promote their
candidacies especially in the last election that they had won. It says that, Marcos’ biggest
contribution to his victory was his Social Media machinery which tells according to them a
disinformation about the past. But for some, especially millions of people who voted for him
believed it to be true and that is truth to them. But despite all of these people, there are some
like Chuck Treńas who did not believed neither vote for Marcos. In short this report tells us that
Marcos uses Media and Information to promote his candidacy greatly that lead him to an
extreme landslide victory that the Philippines had never seen before.

Reaction:

For me, as a voter in the last election, I personally voted for Bongbong Marcos. All I can is that
this report look only to the side of Treńas that he didn’t believe what he sees on the social
media about Marcoses and he didn’t vote for him neither. For me, what we see and what we
saw on Social Media about Marcoses and their pasts are absolutely the truth that other parties
or oppositions don’t want to know. But because of the media and information, the truth that
once was hidden and forgotten was now revealed and remembered. Media and Information
comprises of accurate informations and also have a wide range of audiences that enables that
information to be passed continuously.

Guide Questions:

1. In these event of the victory of Bongbong Marcos, Social Medias are the crucial part of his
victory. It posted the greatness of his great father before in His time of his reigning as the
 longest sitting president of the Philippines. It does not only show his achievements in shaping
and building our country but also his love and passion for the Philippines and Filipino People.
They say, Like father, like son, so if his father is great then his son, Bongbong will be to. He is the
true leader that the Philippines need and thanks to the Media and Information especially Social
Media platforms like Facebook, twitter, tiktok, youtube and many more to promote his
candidacy that led him to a massive landslide victory,
2. Media is the greatest contributor to the victory of Bongbong Marcos. It shows that the people
who knows and remembered the truth about the past of the great father of Bongbong marcos,
supported him all the way. Social Media used to promote his candidacy that provides his
promise to bring back the better life of every Filipinos to unite them as one. Using this, many
people were reached by the Media and know his plans for the country. As an evidence his father
when he was the president of the country, brought many changes and improvements in the
country making it one of the greatest in the entire world. So, like father, like son, Media brings
Marcos a great promotion of his candidacy in the internet.
3. Marcos’ media and information machinery helps him to won magnanimous landslide victory in
the election. It is a positive outcome that he won with a large margin from the second place in
the Philippine Election History. Many people were glad and joyfully celebrated his winning
moment, even the polls were not officially completed. Many people now gain hope for their
lives and for the next president of the Philippines. But despite all of these, there are some
persons who are not happy instead criticize the capability of Marcos to reign like in the report,
Trenas. He seem that his father’s dictatorship and martial law will happen again. But 31 million
who voted in favour of Marcos knows that he will be a great and good leader of the country,