The US State Department Will Rig the Election for Robredo Claims Rigoberto Tiglao

That's right. The presidential election has already been decided and Leni Robredo is the winner. So says noted columnist Rigoberto Tiglao in his latest column. And it's not Filipinos who have made that decision. No, no, no! It's the U.S. State Department who will choose the next President of the Philippines. How will they do this you ask? Let's take a look at Tiglao's latest column.

https://www.manilatimes.net/2022/02/28/opinion/columns/through-rappler-comelec-gives-pinks-and-us-govt-monitoring-authority-in-may-2022-elections/1834569

THE first time I heard about it last month, I couldn't believe it, and thought it was merely a trial balloon by the Rappler website. But it wasn't, and I still can't believe the Commission on Elections could do such an atrocious thing.

Either the commissioners were plainly stupid and derelict that they didn't do due diligence on the matter or the poll body had been infiltrated by Rappler or its Yellow (Pink) operators.

Last week, on February 24, the Comelec officially gave authority to Rappler to undertake such functions during elections as "monitoring and rectification efforts on critical efforts on the ground" and to acquire from the Comelec such sensitive data during and after elections such as candidates' expenses and untransmitted votes. The Rappler website would even carry the precinct finder for voters. Neither Rappler nor the Comelec has made the memorandum public although Maria Ressa, in her usual melodramatic manner, boasted about it in her website, bragging at the signing ceremony: "Whatever happens here will help determine the fate of other democracies around the world."

Any election lawyer would immediately see that Comelec is giving the Rappler a huge amount of confidential data and authority to intervene on the ground, and a means of portraying the elections — if it wishes to — as a failure.

Tiglao tells us that the Comelec "officially gave authority to Rappler" to monitor the elections and "to acquire from the Comelec such sensitive data during and after elections such as candidates' expenses and untransmitted votes." Then he says the memoranda has not been made public!! So how does he know Rappler would be given access to sensitive data? The official press release says NOTHING about Rappler being given access to data about the candidates' expenses and untransmitted votes.  Here is the text of the press release:

https://comelec.gov.ph/index.html?r=2022NLE/PressRelease/23Feb2022pr

The Commission on Elections and Rappler, Inc. will officially ink a partnership on voter engagement and fighting disinformation in relation to the 2022 National and Local Elections in a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signing ceremony.

"We in the Commission believe that a clean, credible, honest and transparent elections require the assistance and vigilance of valuable partners. And we are always open to pursuing partnerships with private organizations, such as Rappler, that will help provide truthful information to the public and promote transparency and accountability in the electoral process," Spokesperson James Jimenez said.

Under the partnership agreement, Rappler commits its resources to help COMELEC disseminate helpful information and engage the public both online and offline.

Rappler's awareness building efforts would include providing engaging content, shareable infographics, and educational videos. To enable a broader response on responding to common complaints on election day, such as missing names on voter’s lists, Rappler will work with COMELEC for the necessary information and action. An online show, podcast, workshops and seminars are also in the pipeline.

Once the Precinct Finder and Post Finder are activated, they will also be made available on Rappler's website. This move will make these services more mobile-responsive and provide voters easy access to important information, especially on election day.

"Access to information is critical. It is just as critical that we immediately quash false, misleading, and harmful election-related information on social media. To help us on this front, Rappler has further committed to mobilize its network of fact-checkers," Jimenez added.

The COMELEC first partnered with Rappler in the 2013 elections. As in previous partnerships, information necessary to carry out the responsibilities of the Commission and to assist Rappler in its noble efforts will be provided.

A Google search shows ONLY Tiglao is reporting such nonsense about Rappler having access to "untransmitted votes." That is because Rigoberto Tiglao is lying. Rappler is not receiving any sensitive information. The partnership is one of distributing accurate information and helping voters be able to vote. 

Let's continue.  

There are two things so scandalous about this Rappler-Comelec agreement.

First, unlike other citizens' arms in past elections — which become active only during elections — Rappler is clearly, incontrovertibly a political organization, pro-Robredo, anti-Duterte and anti-Marcos. How can you have a partisan organization be involved in the mechanisms of the elections?

In the agreement with the Comelec, it is not just Rappler's staff at its website which will get involved in the elections. It will include "MovePH Rappler's civic engagement arm, which will work with the Voter Care Center to assist in the response to common complaints, like missing precincts, improper campaigning by candidates, long queues outside precincts, incidents of vote-buying, voter intimidation, cheating attempts, election-related violence, among others."

The memorandum didn't even define who would constitute "MovePH" and how they would be identified. Rappler may well staff "MovePH" with all Robredo campaigners, and they will be on the ground on election day. If Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte-Carpio appear to be winning, they could fabricate allegations of failure of elections. Or they could undertake other subtle ways of getting voters to vote for Robredo.

Neither in the Comelec's press release on the memorandum nor in all of Rappler's reports on it is the role of this "MovePH" mentioned. The Comelec press release also made it appear that this was the second time it was partnering with Rappler; the first time was in 2013. However, in those elections, Rappler merely helped in the information needs of the Comelec and had no involvement at all on election day, nor was it given confidential information. In its press release, the Comelec portrayed the agreement as one in which Rappler will "commit its resources" to help it.

Nothing was said of the voluminous amount of information the Comelec would give to Rappler, and of the participation of its "MovePH" operatives right in the election precincts.

Read the bolded parts very carefully. Tiglao says that Rappler's civic engagement arm, MovePH, will be included in this partnership. He then shows off his paranoid side by saying the staff of MovePH could all be Robredo campaigners who, if Marcos appears to be winning, could fabricate allegations of failure of elections or undertake other subtle ways of getting voters to vote for Robredo. How will they do this? He does not say. He instead asserts it as a fact.

Then he says there is no mention of MovePH mentioned in either the press release or the memorandum. But in the third paragraph of his opinion piece he admits the memorandum has not been made public. That means he has not read it. So how does he know MovePH is not mentioned in the memorandum? He is making stuff up. He is lying.

But now we get to the heart of this schizophrenic beefsteak and it is rather meaty so let's dig in and chew on this. The only reason the COMELEC has paired up with Rappler is to prevent Marcos from winning.

This is it, I think. That is, that last-resort move by the Pinks to prevent Marcos assuming power. The US State Department and US media's huge effort to portray Maria Ressa as the champion of freedom of the press in the Philippines, to the extent they worked on getting her the Nobel Prize nobody believed she deserved, is intended for this project. Imagine US newspaper headlines the day after voting: "Nobel Laureate declares failure of Philippine elections, based on reports by Rappler's countrywide monitors."

I wonder why other media outfits aren't protesting Rappler's accreditation. With the authority it got, it would have more data on what's happening and faster than other outfits would.

This is another lie. Rappler is not getting any more data than what is available to all the other networks. The COMELEC cleared this matter up quite succinctly. 

https://mb.com.ph/2022/02/28/comelec-to-answer-npcs-letter-of-protest-against-poll-bodys-partnership-with-rappler/

Jimenez defended the poll body’s partnership with Rappler by saying the issue on Rappler’s alleged foreign ownership is still on the status quo.

“If I’m not mistaken, the issue on foreign ownership has not yet been fully resolved. If I’m not mistaken it is pending before the Court of Appeals. If it is pending before the Court of Appeals, it seems to me that a final determination hasn’t been reached yet,” Jimenez said when asked by the media for the poll body’s reaction to those opposing the partnership.

“The Comelec is not the proper venue to make that proper determination. So as far as the Comelec is concerned, hindi pa tapos ang kaso (the case is still not over). Status quo pa ‘yan (It’s still on status quo). If they are able to operate now, then why should they not be considered a legitimate news organization,” he continued.

The Comelec spokesperson said that the MOA entered into by Rappler and the poll body is “practically a boilerplate agreement.”

“This is the same agreement that we entered into with all networks, with all media organizations. Rappler is not getting any special information; it’s not getting any special treatment; it’s not getting any information that would not be available to any other media network,” it noted.

According to Jimenez, the purpose of the MOA is to ensure that there exists a free flow of information from the Comelec to the news organizations.

There it is. Rappler is not getting any special information that would not be available to any other media network. If Rigoberto Tiglao thinks Jimenez is lying then he should prove it. 

Now for the finale.

The second very scandalous thing about Rappler's accreditation is this: Comelec appears to have not investigated Rappler's background, especially the fact that it has been financed mainly by US funds, since the original big stockholder Benjamin Bitanga five years ago stopped investing in it.

Starting in 2015, Rappler had relied for its cash requirements on the $5-million (P260-million) funding from the Omidyar Network and the National Endowment for Democracy, both of which have been known to have funded NGOs in countries whose heads of states were anti-American, on grounds that they were authoritarian rulers, and that they were merely agitating for democratic reform. In 2019, another American fund, the Media Development Investment Fund put $1 million into Rappler.

Rappler, by taking that new funding, defied the Securities and Exchange Commission, which had ruled in 2020 that it should be dissolved as it violated the constitutional provision banning any foreign money in media institutions. Rappler appealed the case to the Regional Trial Court, where it is still pending.

The NED is the more controversial, if not notorious funder. Its first president Carl Gershman had candidly told the Washington Post that it had "been doing what was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA," which was to covertly create organizations that undertake propaganda against a head of state the US wanted out.

The NED gets its funding directly as an appropriation authorized by the US Congress, coursed through the US Agency for International Development (USAid).

Is it problematic that Rappler receives money from the NED which is basically a CIA front? Yes. But here is the thing: Rappler is not the only group in the Philippines receiving money from the NED. Tiglao refuses to talk about those groups. Instead he singles out Rappler.  In 2019 I wrote a long article about CIA front groups in the Philippines receiving money from the NED.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2019/05/cia-front-groups-in-philippines.html

That article focused on criticisms Thinking Pinoy made about funding received by Rappler, Vera Files, the PCIJ (Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism) [Rigoberto Tiglao is a founding member], and the CMFR (Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility) through NED awards. I then looked at all the Philippine groups the NED has awarded grants to since 2014. There were 16 more organizations which had received a total of $3,219,972 in NED grants which was much more than Rappler and the other three combined. Yet Tiglao and Thinking Pinoy remain silent about them. Why? Why does Tiglao continue to make unproven and false statements about Rappler?  The world may never know.

And now for the absolutely most stupid part of this column.

Thus Rappler, whose head is more American than Filipino, gets its funds from the US Congress. It won't be beyond American operatives' — and Ressa's — ethics to regularly ask for reports from Rappler on its work with Comelec, especially on election day. The Comelec will allow foreign intervention in our elections.

If you thought the Comelec was unabashedly pro-Marcos because they waited so long to give their verdict on his disqualification case in order that all the votes against him were rendered null then you had better check again. The fact is the Comelec is actually pro-Robredo because they have partnered with a national media outlet that Rigoberto Tiglao does not like and which will de facto allow foreign intervention in the elections. How? What proof does he give? NONE! It's all based on Rappler receiving NED grants. The last grant they received was in 2020 for $180,000. Though the NED receives an allocation from Congress the grantees are not decided by Congress. 

Q: IS NED PART OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT?

A: No. NED is a private, non-profit, grant-making organization that receives an annual appropriation from the U.S. Congress through the Department of State. Although NED’s continued funding is dependent on the continued support of the White House and Congress, it is NED’s independent BOARD OF DIRECTORS that controls how the appropriation is spent.

https://www.ned.org/about/faqs/

Take that for what you will.  I take it as proof that Rigoberto Tiglao is a lying muckraker. Rappler is not funded by Congress but Rigoberto Tiglao is a teller of falsehoods.

But the worst thing in this propaganda piece is that Tiglao says Maria Ressa is more American than Filipino! How ridiculous. Ressa was born in Manila in 1963. She moved to the USA when she was ten. She returned in 1986 to study at the University of the Philippines on a Fullbright Scholarship and has lived there ever since. She has followed the path of many Filipinos who have been taken to the US as children and have returned to the Philippines as adults. 

Now, contrast Tiglao's inveighing against Ressa for being more American than Filipino with his adulation for Catriona Gray.

https://rigobertotiglao.com/2018/12/20/digong-catriona-electrify-our-nationalism/#more-285928

Catriona Gray’s victory as Miss Universe inarguably made her such a heroine, perhaps not as great as Manny, but still an embodiment of Filipinos’ aspirations to be an admired people, and therefore helping us imagine our nation.

What Catriona also did to imagine the nation, and not just be a beauty queen winner, was to mention Tondo which is as Filipino as any place, and one of the oldest communities (existing at least by AD 900) that would be part of the capital of the nation. What she said was: “I work a lot in the slums of Tondo, Manila and the life there is poor and very sad. And I’ve always taught myself to look for the beauty of it and look in the beauty of the faces of the children and to be grateful.”

While little minds claimed she was romanticizing poverty, with the puniest Yellow mind even demanding that she should have protested the alleged extrajudicial killings in the area, Gray reminded us with that statement that we as nation have to help our compatriots trapped in poverty in one of the oldest places of the nation. After all, what use is an organization called the nation, if it cannot lift its members out of poverty?

Not only does Tiglao not question Catriona Gray's Filipinoness but, based on her work in the slums of Tondo, he makes her out to be a symbol of national unity. This despite the fact that she was born and raised in Australia. The only connection to the Philippines she has is that her mother is a Filipina and she visited the nation a few times on vacation. As of 2020 Catriona Gray was still learning Tagalog! 

https://www.philstar.com/entertainment/2020/04/27/2010141/catriona-gray-using-quarantine-time-learn-tagalog

“Can you guys recommend any good reads or online courses? Am currently undertaking an online course, as well as my tagalog lessons online and reading!” she wrote.

What a joke. 

I am sick of these hypocrites and Rigoberto Tiglao is one of the biggest out there. Does this moron not know that the NED has given more money to Philippine organizations than just Rappler? Has he called  any of them out!??  NO!! He has not.  Why?  Because he is a partisan hack not interested in FACTS but is compelled to talk trash about organizations he does not particularly like. He has written at least two columns about BongBong's lead in the surveys. But apparently those surveys mean nothing because the COMELEC has partnered with Rappler which means the US will be interfering in the elections and will do anything to prevent Marcos from winning. Robredo has effectively won the 2022 Presidential election according to the narrative of this paranoid android. Why not Lacson or Manny Pacquiao? Why don't they benefit from this partnership? Because Tiglao is not imaginative enough! Can he not get his story straight? Either BongBong has the numbers to win or the COMELEC is conniving with the US State Department to get Robredo elected. Both cannot be true.

Let's take a look at one of Tiglao's recent columns about BongBong's poll numbers. It ends like this:

Marcos Sr.'s favorability rating has in fact been rising, from 45 percent in 2009 to 55 percent in February 2016 to the latest 72 percent, just a few percentage points from Duterte's 77 percent. I was wrong in my thinking then that his father's demonization by the Reds and Yellows would be Bongbong's insurmountable obstacle in the elections.

Or did Bongbong's running for president stimulate the revival of interest in his father's real record, his behavior serving to disprove in people's minds his father's demonization?

This is amazing: despite the power of the Yellows and Reds' propaganda machine that has portrayed Marcos Sr. for three decades and a half as a "plunderer and ruthless dictator," the majority of Filipinos don't believe this, and favor him and his rule.

This points to the Yellows and Pinks' colossal error in the current election campaign. Their propaganda has focused on demonizing Marcos Sr., while most Filipinos don't think of him as being so. This most likely backfired, as Filipinos would have disfavored the camp that has been disseminating what they think are lies, and favored Bongbong whom they see as unjustly persecuted.

If most Filipinos don't see Marcos Sr. as bad and his era as horrific, shouldn't the intellectual sector humble themselves and undertake a more objective, unbiased study of the martial law period to find out the truth, rather than uncritically believe the claims the Yellows and the Reds have been disseminating?

https://www.manilatimes.net/2022/01/14/opinion/columns/bongbongs-beyond-gravity-now/1829266

Look at this complete idiot telling us that real true history is based on surveys. An objective and unbiased look at the martial law period shows that Marcos destroyed the economy as well as the lives of many dissenters. If most Filipinos have a different take on that then they need to get educated and stop reading all the many lies on Facebook about how it was a golden era. Did everyone suddenly forget that Marcos was willing to raise an army to INVADE THE NATION in order to get back his power? Is that a thing a nice guy would do?

This is all coming from a man who was a political prisoner in Camp Crame from March 1973 to December 1974. Unbelievable. Rigoberto Tiglao should know better.