Marcos, Franco Mabanta ‘not friends’; Palace points to his Duterte ties

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang appeared to distance President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. from his previous engagements with social media operator Franco Mabanta, who was arrested by operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for alleged extortion.

In a press briefing in Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu province on Wednesday, Palace press officer Claire Castro said the president and Mabanta “are not friends.”

She did not directly answer when journalists asked to confirm if Mabanta previously worked for Marcos.

Instead, Castro flashed two printed photos — which were posted on Mabanta’s verified social media account — showing Mabanta with former President Rodrigo Duterte, Vice President Sara Duterte, and their allies.

“Maybe you should ask what is his relationship with the Dutertes,” she told journalists.

Asked if she had information about the social media personality’s involvement with the Dutertes, Castro urged journalists to get the answer from Mabanta himself.

READ: NBI nabs PGMN founder Franco Mabanta for alleged extortion vs Romualdez

She noted that Peanut Gallery Media Network (PGMN), a “media channel” Mabanta founded in 2024, “has been posting many articles which are against the [Marcos] administration.”

Mabanta’s social media footprint, however, showed that he had been working for the Marcoses as early as 2018.

He had also been mingling with fellow social media personalities affiliated with both the Marcoses and the Dutertes since 2017.

In a Sept. 13, 2019 post on Facebook, Mabanta said he had been working for the Marcos family for about a year as he greeted Marcos for his 62nd birthday.

“ Being a strategist and the Chief Social Media Director for the Marcoses was really unlike anything I had experienced in my life; less because theirs is indisputably the most crucial last name in Philippine history, but more because I was working for a proper human being. A truly good person,” he posted.

“Happy, happy birthday, Tito Bonget. You are loved, my friend,” Mabanta said of Marcos.

The NBI on Wednesday said it arrested Mabanta and four others in an entrapment operation after an alleged extortion attempt on former Speaker and incumbent Leyte 1st District Rep. Martin Romualdez.

Mabanta allegedly pressed Romualdez to pay P350 million lest he release videos implicating Romualdez in the flood control scandal through PGMN. /das /atm