Trolls and fake news farms are expected to have a field day on social media once the formal hearings on the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte start.

Thus, said House Assistant Majority Leader Ilocos Norte 1st district Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong on Friday, March 6 as he warned the public to be vigilant against purposeful attempt to misinform them.

“Ako ine-xpect ko na ’yan. In fact ako ay binibiro ng mga kasamahan ko. Sabi ko sige na lang at least nakakatulong din tayo dun sa mga walang trabaho kasi nabibigyan sila ng pera para maging trolls,” Adiong said in a chance interview.

(I already expected that. In fact, my colleagues even tease me about it. I just say, well, at least we’re helping those who don’t have jobs, since they get paid to become trolls.)

The House leader said he expected disinformation efforts to intensify as public interest toward the impeachment proceedings intensify.

“Ine-expect ko na ’yan kasi ganyan talaga ang kalakaran ngayon. Pero ang atin lang, tayo din sa publiko kailangan maging discerning tayo, maging mas mapanuri, maging mas maingat at mas masusi ang ating pag-appreciate sa ating mga nakikita online kasi karamihan po diyan ay hindi tama at hindi totoo,” he said.

(I expected that because that’s really how things work nowadays. But for us, the public, we need to be discerning, we have to be more critical, more careful, and more thorough in how we appreciate what we see online, because most of it is not right and not true.)

The respondent in the impeachment case, Duterte, declared her intention to run for president in the 2028 elections only last Feb. 18, even as impeachment complaints piled up at the House of Representatives.

Out of the four verified and endorsed impeachment complaints, the House Committee on Justice found two of them to be sufficient in form and sufficient in substance. This was enough to trigger the next stage in the proceedings, which was to make Duterte answer in writing the allegations stated in the two complaints.

From there, the justice panel will conduct the formal hearings to determine whether or not there is probable cause to impeach Duterte.