Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Dave Gomez told the House Committee on Appropriations on Tuesday night, Aug. 26 that they don't hire social media "reactors" or vloggers just to make President Marcos look good.

This, despite the stubborn insistence of SAGIP Party-list Rep. Paolo Marcoleta that the PCO was paying netizens in exchange for "hearts or likes" on the agency's posts. The PCO is the communication arm of the Marcos administration.

It was agency's turn to appear before the appropriations panel Tuesday for the ongoing deliberations on P6.793-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2026.

During Marcoleta's interpellation of Gomez, the former said, "Mayroon din kasi akong kakilala sa PSCO eh. Hindi naman ganun kakilala pero nakakapag-kwento rin siya. Sabi niya, 'We hire reactors.'"

(I also happen to know someone at PSCO. Not that well, but they do share stories. They said, ‘We hire reactors.’)

"Ang trabaho ng reactors, 100 or 200 or so reactors, ang trabaho po nila ay magbigay ng positive reactions sa mga post ninyo, magbigay ng positibong comment sa mga post. Yun po ang trabaho. Aside from maintaining around 76 vloggers. Is that correct?" the rookie solon asked Gomez.

(The job of the reactors—about 100 or 200 of them—is to give positive reactions to your posts, to leave positive comments on the posts. That’s their job. Aside from maintaining around 76 vloggers. Is that correct?)

Gomez first asked Marcoleta if he meant PCO and not PSCO. The SAGIP lawmaker said he just made a mistake.

"We don't maintain reactors or vloggers. We have organic supporters of the President who comment on our posts. We don't retain any of those vloggers or reactors as you may put it," the PCO chief said.

"Those are organic, real people commenting on our posts, commending the activities, the program of the president. And they are no means city by us," added Gomez.

Without mentioning the identity of his source, Marcoleta insisted that his information was correct.

"Taliwas po ang aking impormasyon na natanggap. Ito po ay binabayaran, itong mga reactors natin ng P7,000 month para magbigay ng magandang komento at magbigay ng magandang react--siguro heart or like--para po maganda ang traction ng ating mga posts," he told Gomez.

(The information I received is different. These reactors are being paid P7,000 a month to leave positive comments and reactions—maybe a heart or a like—to boost the traction of our posts.)

'Kung sa tingin niyo Mr. Secretary ito po ay organic, bakit po natin sila kailangang bayaran?(If you believe, Mr. Secretary, that this is organic, then why do we need to pay them?)" Marcoleta asked.

Gomez calmly repeated his denial and even offered the congressman an easy route for verification.

"With all due respect your honor, hindi po namin sila binabayaran (we do not pay them) and we can check that in the line item of our budget. Wala po kaming binabayaran na ganun (we don't have payables like that). As I've said and i will reiterate: these are organic, real people who support the President," he said.

"Wala po yun sa line item ng budget namin (That is not included in our line budget item)," Gomez further said,