Newly created accounts have been replying to news reports on Facebook and Twitter with messages of support to political aspirants during the filing of certificates of candidacy period.
While there’s no certainty if they are real or fake identities created election-related trolling, their profiles show that they were created in the past few months..
Interaksyon found some of them in the comments of a report that lists possible contenders for the 2022 presidential race are by recently created accounts.
The names mentioned in the Reuters report are Sens. Manny Pacquiao, Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, Christopher “Bong” Go, Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, presidential daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio, Vice President Leni Robredo and defeated vice presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos.
Here are the politicians who have declared their candidacy and others tipped as potential presidential bets 👇🏼#BilangPilipino2022 #Elections2022https://t.co/VXF0nmWuKQ
— Interaksyon (@interaksyon) October 1, 2021
Tweets that supported Sen. Lacson’s potential presidential bid replied all at the same time to one Interaksyon post.
After looking through their profiles, they were all created from June to August 2021 and they have a few to zero followers.
They also have no other online activities aside from retweets of articles and tweets involving Lacson.
The veteran lawmaker filed his certificate of candidacy on Wednesday to formalize his run for the presidency.
On October 5, one Twitter user also noticed a slew of Twitter accounts from a hashtag that expressed support for the late dictator’s son.
The user attached screenshots of some of their profiles on a tweet.
The images showed the profiles were created between July and September 2021.
“Looking at the current hashtag, mga newly-created accounts mostly ang nagpapatrend. I think this needs to be highlighted in the news. Most are created last month lang,” the user wrote.
Grabe ang lala ng troll farm ni BBM. Looking at the current hashtag, mga newly-created accounts mostly ang nagpapatrend. I think this needs to be highlighted in the news. Most are created last month lang.@rapplerdotcom @ABSCBNNews @PhilstarNews @cnnphilippines#MarcosMagnanakaw pic.twitter.com/revM5o3BKd
— Tito | #SaveSanRoque (@maroontito) October 5, 2021
Reporter Jeff Canoy shared a similar observation. “O alam nyo na kung bakit marami kayong bagong followers na bagong gawa na account at zero followers,” Canoy wrote.
Marcos confirmed Tuesday he will run for president in the coming 2022 national elections.
He made the announcement in a speech streamed on social media. “Join me in this noblest of causes and we will succeed. Together, we will rise again,” Marcos said.
READ: Marcos Jr confirms run for presidency
Moreno and Pacquiao have formalized their presidential candidacies.
Moreno was accompanied by his running mate Willie Ong who also filed his COC for vice president before the Commission on Elections.
READ: Manila mayor files candidacy for presidency
Go, meanwhile, is now eyeing the vice presidency despite being nominated for president by a faction of PDP-Laban.
The neophyte lawmaker was accompanied by President Rodrigo Duterte himself when he filed his COC last Saturday. The president also announced his retirement from politics.