One of the most contentious issues under Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna’s administration, as she seeks a second term, is the health certificate controversy, which has drawn major backlash from UST employees. A wave of fake accounts later emerged in support of her — a discovery The Varsitarian made after analyzing comments on its reports about the issue.
Lacuna’s public standing took a significant hit due to the health permit policy, which also triggered an influx of suspicious commenters on the student publication’s page. These accounts flooded the comments section with pro-Lacuna remarks, attacks on her critics, and conspiracy-driven narratives.
The ordinance in question — passed in 2022 but only strictly enforced under Lacuna’s leadership — mandates that all employees secure health certificates. UST faculty members, hospital staff, and support personnel have strongly opposed this requirement.
Fake accounts first made a blip on the Varsitarian’s radar in August 2024, when its story, “‘Misunderstanding’ by UST caused Manila health permit issue — Lacuna,” was met with a flood of comments favoring Lacuna. Many of these comments exhibited troll-like behavior, originating from accounts with minimal activity, recent creation dates, or locked profiles.
The latest wave of fake accounts emerged in response to the Varsitarian’s exclusive interview with former Manila mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, who was once an ally of Lacuna but is now her political rival in the upcoming mayoral race.
During the interview, Domagoso said that if he wins in 2025, he will amend the health certificate ordinance — a city measure he himself signed in 2022 when he was mayor and Lacuna served as his vice mayor and city council presiding officer.
The comments under the video showed support for Moreno. However, the majority of responses consisted of hostile remarks from accounts with private profiles, few friends, and recent activity.
In response to the growing presence of these dubious accounts, The Varsitarian launched an investigation into the apparent pro-Lacuna coordinated social media campaign. It began with collecting and analyzing repetitive comments, followed by examining the accounts and their profile pictures.
Using reverse image searches, the Varsitarian found that many accounts had no identifiable owners or past interactions. Some even stole photos and identities from real people, but their names did not match those of the original Facebook users.
As of writing, hundreds of similarly patterned comments have been logged, with multiple accounts confirmed as fake or stolen.
Trolls?
A 2018 study from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst describes troll farms as being the handiwork of “architects of networked disinformation.”
For Asst. Prof. Froilan Calilung of the UST Department of Political Science, the presence of troll farms has become a staple in political campaigns, especially during elections.
“It’s all about securing the victory, … and having these troll farms (is) a part of what I call ‘digital armies,’” Caliilung said.
The use of trolls in political propaganda gained traction during the 2016 national elections, when the presidential campaign of Rodrigo Duterte relied on an extensive network of online operatives.
In 2019, Facebook took down nearly 200 pages and profiles spreading pro-Duterte narratives, all linked to a social media operative, Nicanor Gabunada.
Beyond online trolling, Duterte’s digital warriors also reportedly tracked phone numbers and harassed his critics.
Calilung said political strategists are constantly refining digital campaign tactics. With the Philippines ranked fourth worldwide in social media usage in 2024 — according to a study by global advertising agency We Are Social — politicians are increasingly leveraging social platforms to spread disinformation, manipulate narratives, and sway public sentiment.
“As long as we know that there is a faster way of transmitting messages through digital media, I know that candidates will always want to capitalize on that because that means decreased logistics on their part — decreased expenditures as well,” Calilung said.
According to a 2022 report by Channel News Asia, hired trolls are paid anywhere from P30,000 to P100,000 per campaign. These operatives assume false identities, manage multiple social media accounts across different platforms, and use various SIM cards to push misleading content and drown out opposition voices.
According to Anthony Divinagracia, News5 digital head and UST political science faculty member, trolls should be viewed as “amplifiers” that simply follow the commands of their political bosses.
“‘Yong mga troll farm, troll army, amplifier ‘yong mga ‘yan. They just echo what their principal says. And it will also depend on the personality of their principal,” Divinagracia told the Varsitarian.
“Kung sino naman ‘yong pinuno ng troll army, kung totoo man nga na nage-exist sila, sinasabayan lang ‘yong personality niya. Binabagay nila. Gano’n sila, kumbaga hindi pwede mag-deviate do’n sa character or do’n sa political image ng kliyente nila,” Divinagracia added.
Despite efforts from social media platforms to crack down on fake accounts, passing legislation against trolls seems unlikely. Calilung pointed out that lawmakers are reluctant to regulate them, as doing so would mean cutting off a tool they themselves benefit from.
“[M]aybe they will try to offer some piecemeal legislation like this and that, but not really to the extent of having a law that will really have a teeth or fang for instance that will really put an end to this because they themselves are actually benefiting from this,” he said.
A survey by OCTA Research in January 2025 showed Moreno holding a commanding lead in the Manila mayoral race, with 74% of respondents backing his candidacy.
Tutok To Win Partylist Rep. Sam Verzosa followed with 15%, while Lacuna placed third with 9%.
