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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider What made vloggers cry during House hearing?

What made vloggers cry during House hearing?

Published Mar 21, 2025 12:17 pm

At A Glance

  • Manila 6th district Rep. Benny Abante's intense grilling during the hearing on fake news and disinformation Friday, March 21 at the House of Representatives left pro-Duterte social media personalities literally sobbing and shaking.

509C0890-98FB-4E38-9596-8F4EDE8EA6CA.jpegManila 6th district Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr (PPAB)

Manila 6th district Rep. Benny Abante's intense grilling during the hearing on fake news and disinformation Friday, March 21 at the House of Representatives left pro-Duterte social media personalities literally sobbing and shaking.

Abante--apparently fed up with the supposed baseless claims being spread by the resource persons on social media--turned confrontational when he brought up during the inquiry the social media posts the latter had made.

For one, Abante said it might not be the government that was actually "stupid"—a claim made supposedly by some vloggers—when it investigated the Duterte administration's extra-judicial killing (EJK) cases.

"Itong mga bloggers na 'to, ito ang mga t*nga eh. T*tanga-t*anga ang gobyerno? Mag-isip kayo! Hindi lang sumusulat kayo ng kung anu-ano," the lawmaker said.

"You're telling us--criminal forces? Gusto kong sabihin ngayon, publicly, ikaw ang t*nga, okay," Abante told blogger MJ Quiambao Reyes.

Reyes then turned emotional, and said she felt insulted by how she was called.

In the latter part of the hearing, she said she burst into tears because she feared of being cited in contempt, which could happen to her if she refused to apologize for the unverified claims she made online.

Reyes previously posted that EJK victims under the Duterte administration were "a massive hoax" and that anti-Duterte "propagandists" were only desperate to manipulate the global narrative.

Meanwhile, another resource person and prominent Duterte supporter, Krizette Chu, also cried after she was threatened to be cited in contempt if she would not apologize for calling the government stupid in relation to its 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program).

"I will apologize, Mr. Chair, for my bad words. I apologize for my bad words, Sir. I apologize for saying the word tanga (stupid) in my post maraming-maraming salamat (thank you very much)," she said.

Reyes, Chu, and vlogger Mark Lopez were all told to publicly apologize for the unverified claims they made online and during the hearing.

Lopez admitted to being a "fake news" peddler after lawmakers said he claimed during the hearing that the Philippines used a water cannon against China.

Lopez was further chastised by House members after he alleged that Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Spokesman Jay Tarriela was a lapdog of the United States (US).

The vlogger said his assertion about Tarriela was "very striking" because his pronouncements were "very similar to the United States propaganda regarding the South China Sea".

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