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Philstar.com granted MindaNews permission to republish this piece.
Several Facebook and YouTube pages have made claims that First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos is single-handedly controlling the Marcos administration.These posts and videos have called the First Lady the “mastermind” behind the decision to “allow” the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte, among other things.These were also the same Facebook pages that released the coordinated spread of ‘polvoron’ allegations against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. from December 2023 to January 2024.
Over a dozen videos on Facebook and YouTube uploaded from February to March claimed that First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos was single-handedly controlling the Marcos administration and was considered the “mastermind” behind the decision to “allow” the ICC to arrest (former) President Duterte, among others.
These videos use clips from the videos of vlogger Maharlika and footage of the speech made by lawyer Glenn Chong in a pro-Duterte rally to spread the narrative.
At least two YouTube videos uploaded by hyperpartisan accounts claimed, without basis, that the President has “physically hit” the First Lady after being fed up with being “controlled.”
Image by Philstar.com
The coordinated spread of this narrative on two platforms using the videos and clips of two prominent hyperpartisan personalities indicates that this is a deliberate campaign to shift the focus from the Marcos administration – decisions of which are primarily made by the President and his Cabinet – to the First Lady alone.
In her interview with (Anthony) Taberna, Araneta-Marcos has since denied “controlling” the President and dismissed speculation that the government’s decisions have been made upon her orders.
The same coordinated behavior is typically observed in other influence operations that aim to sow confusion and discord about matters of public interest. (Philstar.com)
RELATED: What you need to know about influence operations
(This content was produced with support from an Internews initiative aiming to build the capacity of news organizations to understand and monitor disinformation and influence operations in the Philippines.)
