Vlogger calls out colleagues for not showing up at House hearing

House of Representatives. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — A law professor-turned-vlogger has called out his colleagues — particularly supporters of former president Rodrigo Duterte and his allies — for skipping a House of Representatives hearing on disinformation and misinformation online.

At the hearing of the House tri committee on Tuesday, lawyer Ricky Tomotorgo said that it seems most of the vloggers that were invited were with the DDS — Diehard Duterte Supporters, or those who back former president Rodrigo Duterte — and only a few like him do not support the past administration.

Tomotorgo however noted that it seems pro-Duterte vloggers are not ‘maisug’ — a Bicolano and Visayan word that means ‘brave’ — contrary to their branding.

“Sabi ko ‘tatlo lang yata kami ditong hindi DDS ah?’  Kaya sabi ko, ah hindi aattend ‘yang mga ‘yan, actually nag-vlog ako kagabi at saka kaninang umaga, sabi ko akala ko Maisug ‘yong mga DDS vloggers, tawag nila sa kanila ‘maisug’ eh, pero bakit hindi umattend sa tricomm hearing?” Tomotorgo said.

(I said ‘only three of us here are not with the DDS?’  That’s why I knew that they would not attend, actually I posted a vlog last night and this morning, saying that I thought the DDS vloggers are ‘Maisug?’  They have been calling themselves ‘maisug’, but they did not attend the tricomm hearing.)

According to the lawyer, he is confident to face the House members since he believes that he has not done anything wrong.

“Pero ako a-attend ako, hindi ko alam bakit ako pinatawag, dahil ba attorney ako na nagba-vlog?  Or baka may natamaan ako d’yan sa pagba-vlog ko?  Kaya ni-review ko ‘yong mga vlog ko, sino kaya ‘yong mga member ng quad comm, at ngayon ng tricomm na naging topic ko,” Tomotorgo said.

(For me, I chose to attend even if I didn’t know why I was called, was it because I was a lawyer doing vlogs?  Or have I stepped on someone due to these vlogs?  That’s why I reviewed all my vlogs, looking for who I might have criticized, that is from the quad comm, and now the tricomm.)

“Sabi ko wala naman, wala naman akong masyadong ano, kaya confident ako na sabi ko kaya ko ‘tong harapin,” he added.

(When I saw that I did not offend anyone, I said I was confident to face it.)

Senatorial candidate Marc Gamboa, another political vlogger, sent a ‘shoutout’ to the pro-Duterte vloggers whom he said are watching, and may be critical of him later on for showing up at the House hearing.

“Gusto ko lang din pong sabihin, shoutout lang din po sa mga DDS vloggers, na 40 na hindi po nakapunta.  Actually nanonood po sila ngayon, at meron silang mga komentaryo, pino-post po nila sa kanilang Facebook, meron po silang mga panibagong hirit po sa inyong lahat, so shoutout po sa kanila nanonood po sila ngayon,” Gamboa said.

(I just want to give a shoutout to the DDS vloggers, the 40 who failed to attend.  Actually they are watching right now, and they have comments posted on their Facebook accounts, they have new tirades for all of you, they are watching.)

Gamboa also noted that his experience in vlogging has showin him how toxic vloggers can get in terms of sharing fake news — which can eventually transition to bullying.

“In my experience, in my six years of vlogging, I saw how toxic, how prevalent fake news is, and how grave the insults, curses uttered, and I am saddened, because in my channel I can be critical of a politician, but I always try to maintain a level of respect,” Gamboa said.

“My problem is that with their style, it is a form of bullying.  They have been doing this for nine years, if someone does not agree with their opinion, if someone thinks the other way, or for example the quad comm hearings that you conducted revealed illegal activities done during the time of former president Duterte, they will be in attack mode immediately,” he added.

Later on, ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro said that the vloggers who did not attend the hearing trooped to the Supreme Court to ask for a temporary restraining order against the tricomm proceedings.

Earlier, several show-cause orders were issued against social media vloggers and content creators who skipped the hearing due to unacceptable excuses.

According to the committee secretariat, over 40 social media personalities were invited, but only three showed up — Tomotorgo, Gamboa, and columnist and Publicus Asia founder Malou Tiquia.

Aside from that, Abang Lingkod party-list Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano also urged the House legal department to study the possible disbarment of former Presidential Communications Office (PCO) secretary and lawyer Trixie Cruz-Angeles due to her decision to ignore the hearing.

Cruz-Angeles questioned the proceedings of the House — which Paduano said is grave because she is an officer of the court.

Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers — whose privilege speeches became the subject of the tri committee hearing — reiterated that the hearings are not meant to stifle free speech, but to set standards and regulations to avoid the spread of disinformation and misinformation.

“This hearing is not meant to halt or suppress their freedom of speech.  We do not have that goal.  What we want to do is for us to craft a policy about the use of social media platforms.  We should have discipline, we should have a code of conduct, we should have ethics with regards to the use of social media,” Barbers said in Filipino.

“Our point here is that we should have a regulatory policy just like for broadcasters, they have the KBP (Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas), for writers in print they have the NUJP (National Union of Journalists of the Philippines).  We’re all bound by rules and regulations. So as in the use of social media platforms, unfortunately, we do not have these guidelines,” he added.

READ: ‘Fighting drugs since 1995’: Barbers laughs off ‘drug lord’ rumors 

Barbers was one of the lawmakers who called out the proliferation of fake information, after rumors about him and the other chairpersons of the House quad committee were disseminated.  In some social media posts, Barbers was called a drug lord, despite him having fought illegal drugs and supported measures against it throughout his political career.

The social media posts came out while the quad committee was then probing illegal activities in Philippine offshore gaming operators, the illicit drug trade, and extrajudicial killings in the past administration’s drug war.