Campaigner says Duterte won on own strength, not due to social media

President Rodrigo Duterte won the May polls because he was a strong leader and not because of his popularity in the social media, his former social media director said on Friday.

“It has to start with the candidate, and it has nothing to do with social media,” Pompee La Viña said in an interview on News To Go.

La Viña, who worked with Duterte’s social media team during the campaign, said Duterte captured the hearts of many Filipinos because he positioned himself on the issue of drugs, when no one else did.

“In fact, noong unang lumabas yung survey [results] ng Pulse Asia nang December, wala pa yata yung drugs sa mapa. Siya ang naglagay nito sa mapa,” he said.

Duterte, elected with 16 million votes, secured his seat in Malacañang through his platforms against drugs, corruption and criminality.

During his campaign, he promised he would suppress drugs and criminality in the country within three to six months.

La Viña said social media only entered the scene when Duterte’s camp could not get the coverage they needed from traditional media.

“From our viewpoint, medyo biased ang traditional media, tapos siguro kulang din yung pera namin, so we turned to social media,” he added.

La Viña also said they did not create the content on social media; their volunteers did. Their team only looked for “content that reinforces the message” they wanted to push.

Meanwhile, La Viña admitted that while they had their own strategy, social media influencers like “Mocha Uson Blog” and several Overseas Filipino Workers sites also helped them.

“We coordinate with them through private messaging, group chats, na i-push niyo naman yung content na ito,” he said.

La Viña also said that given the ensuing war on words on social media, they also have to police their ranks and the users.

“As far as expressing the opinion of the netizens, hindi naman kino-control ‘yan. But more on sinasabi namin na balik tayo doon sa mensahe: drugs, criminality, yung buhay ni President Duterte, binabalik namin doon,” he explained.

La Viña advised netizens about the dangers of social media, especially with the increasing number of sites spreading misinformation.

“You, as a viewer, have to discern alin ang totoo, alin ang hindi. Be critical, use your mental facility,” he said.  —Erwin Colcol/NB, GMA News