Cat filters and AI edits aren’t what you expect from a congressman, but Kiko Barzaga—the self-proclaimed Congressmeow of Cavite—has turned them into his brand. Since leaving his political party, he’s gone on a shitposting spree that many dismissed as madness. It isn’t. It’s method.
Back in college, my thesis was about looking past Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign words to understand the narrative machinery behind them. Barzaga’s project feels like the next iteration of that same logic—except now the message isn’t in the speech, it’s in the meme.
Barzaga’s relentless posting has pushed his content deep into online communities, especially within the pro-Duterte bubble. His follower count has surged by the hundreds of thousands—a viral spike that would make any influencer blush. He floods timelines daily with a mix of mockery, AI-generated videos, and memes.
As with Duterte’s language, decency and accuracy aren’t what matter most. What wins is spectacle. Social media rewards performance over policy, reaction over reason. Politics online has turned into pure theater. Decades ago, the French thinker Guy Debord warned about a “society of the spectacle”—a world ruled by images instead of ideas. Ours is simply the upgraded version, coded for engagement. The algorithm doesn’t need belief; it only needs reaction..
Barzaga’s position has been blurred. He’s no longer just a representative of Cavite’s 4th District; he’s become a representation within the pro-Duterte bubble itself—a symbol performing politics online. Public discourse has migrated from the halls of Congress to comment sections and Facebook feeds. It’s a consequence of citizens long excluded from nation-building, who turned to these platforms believing they could finally be heard. But democracy here comes with a price tag; visibility is bought, and attention is currency.
Barzaga isn’t just posting into the void; he’s staking presence in digital territories where humor, loyalty, and anger define who belongs. These meme spaces are the new political plazas—places where visibility replaces debate and reactions measure power. Each post is a small land claim on the collective imagination, turning conversation into spectacle. What began as an attempt to be heard has become a contest for dominance within the platform’s geography.
Barzaga doesn’t simply use these spaces; he merges with them. His identity is sustained by the same feedback loops that keep them alive.
Barzaga may be the most visible example, but he isn’t just another politician adapting to the times—he’s the prototype for something else entirely. He collapses the boundaries between politician, troll, and meme, existing as all three at once.
The rest of us perform smaller versions of the same loop every time we post or react, but Barzaga lives inside it. His politics is not simply mediated by the platform— it’s generated by it.
Politics no longer ends when the post is published; it lives on in the algorithm’s echo. As faith in traditional institutions fades, democratic energy migrates to platforms that promise participation but prizes engagement above all else.
These spaces masquerade as public spaces, yet their real incentive is to inflame, not to deliberate.
The spectacle no longer needs a stage; it lives inside our screens. We all scroll on, mistaking reaction for participation, believing that digital noise is democratic voice. But the algorithm now mediates how we act, speak and even imagine democracy. What we call engagement is often just performance– an endless rehearsal of democracy’s form without its substance. Barzaga’s politics thrives in that gap, where performativity stands in for practice, and democracy becomes content that keeps the feed alive.