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[DECODED] How a pro-Duterte network organized against Hontiveros over 'Rene' video

WRITTEN BY
Gaby Baizas
July 8, 2025

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After Michael Maurilio recanted his year-old testimony against Apollo Quiboloy, pro-Duterte pages and groups coordinate to attack Senator Risa Hontiveros

MANILA, Philippines – Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros is under attack once again.

On Tuesday, June 24, a certain Michael Maurilio recanted his 2024 Senate testimony against detained Pastor Apollo Quiboloy. He came forward with his claims against the senator in a YouTube video entitled “HINDI KO NA MASIKMURA PAGGAMIT SA AKIN NI ‪@RisaHontiverosOfficial‬ (I can no longer stomach how Senator Risa Hontiveros used me).” The video has over 109,000 views as of writing.

This came over a year after Maurilio — who, at the time, was only known by his alias “Rene” — told the Hontiveros-led Senate committee how he was sexually abused and exploited by members of Quiboloy’s Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC). The pastor, a close ally of former president Rodrigo Duterte, is facing charges of sexual abuse and trafficking, which Hontiveros had investigated in Senate hearings.

But just a few days ago, Maurilio claimed Hontiveros paid him to lie under oath and implicate Quiboloy, ex-president Duterte, and Vice President Sara Duterte.

Maurilio’s video was nothing short of suspicious.

The YouTube channel Pagtanggol Valiente was only created on the same day it released the video in question. A Facebook account with the same name had fewer than 100 friends, and first changed its profile picture the same day it uploaded Maurilio’s video on the platform. Hontiveros also debunked all of Maurilio’s claims, and said he had sent her team a distress message just a few days before the video was released.

It didn’t take long for pro-Duterte pages and groups to begin targeting the senator.

The Nerve scanned public Facebook posts mentioning Hontiveros, shared between June 24 to July 2, 2025. The Nerve’s analysis found a coordinated effort among pro-Duterte pages and groups to attack Hontiveros following Maurillo’s video.

Pro-Duterte accounts ride on the incident

The Nerve found that Facebook accounts that supported the Dutertes were among the first to discuss and amplify Maurilio’s claims on the platform.

The Pagtanggol Valiente Facebook account posted Maurilio’s video past 3 pm on June 24. A few hours later, past 5 pm, the Facebook page Kuys Juan TV and the user Gi Pagurayan reuploaded Maurilio’s videos, boosting its reach. 

Kuys Juan TV disguises itself as a news page, but has shared content promoting the Dutertes and their allies in the past. Pagurayan also frequently shared pro-Duterte content on their personal profile.

FIRST REUPLOADS. Facebook accounts that previously shared pro-Duterte content are the first to reupload Michael Maurilio’s video against Senator Risa Hontiveros. The Nerve screenshots

Then, Maurilio’s claims were seeded into pro-Duterte groups. The Nerve’s data found that there was an initial wave of at least four copy-pasted posts past 6 pm on Tuesday, but the posts are no longer available as of writing.

In the days that followed, the claims were picked up by various pages and groups promoting different members of the Duterte family, including former president Rodrigo and his daughters Vice President Sara and Kitty.

There were clear signs of coordinated behavior from these accounts. For instance, at least three pro-Duterte pages, each with tens of thousands of followers, uploaded the same video with identical captions shortly before 7 am on Wednesday, June 25. 

Yari ka na Hontiveros! Lumabas na ang katotohanan (You’re done for, Hontiveros! The truth has come out),” the captions read.

IDENTICAL VIDEOS. Pro-Duterte Facebook pages reupload the same video against Senator Risa Hontiveros within minutes of each other on Wednesday morning, June 25. The Nerve screenshots

At least 20 different posts containing the same caption and image dubbed Hontiveros “the legend of lies,” due to allegedly “fake evidence, fabricated witnesses, and scripted truth.” These posts earned a total of over 4,400 interactions on the platform.

LEGEND OF LIES? Identical posts from pro-Duterte pages and groups attack Senator Risa Hontiveros following Michael Maurilio’s claims that he was paid by the senator to testify against Pastor Apollo Quiboloy. The Nerve screenshots

The Nerve’s network analysis also found that Eat Bulaga fan pages and groups also amplified anti-Hontiveros content and shared sources with some pro-Duterte accounts on the platform. While these Eat Bulaga accounts branded themselves as entertainment pages and groups, The Nerve previously found that they shared content about Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest over an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant.

Targeted over time

Hontiveros is no stranger to attacks from social media armies. Fact-checked claims that she was linked to corruption in the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) resurfaced multiple times over the past few years.

During the Rodrigo Duterte administration, she was hammered for her criticism of drug war killings, and was even linked to terrorist groups. The former president was infamous for his misogynistic statements, and critical women politicians like Hontiveros often faced sexist attacks online and offline.

In this recent instance, pro-Duterte groups amplified a supposed opinion piece by a self-proclaimed coach, who criticized “pinklawans” or supporters of the political opposition for supposedly being “silent” over the issue. With over 96,000 followers on Facebook, he frequently discusses Philippine politics and the Dutertes in his recent posts. Some of his posts have also been shared by bigger pro-Duterte names like Sass Sasot and Krizette Laureta Chu.

The opinion piece, which garnered over 11,000 interactions on Facebook as of writing, pointed out the supposed double standards of more liberal Filipinos, who were especially critical of the former president.

“When Duterte supporters stood by him through controversies, pinklawans called it political blindness. Now that a Pink icon is being implicated in scripted testimonies, alleged payouts…they call it nothing,” he wrote.

DOUBLE STANDARDS? Facebook posts amplify an opinion piece that criticized supporters of the opposition for being silent over the ‘Rene’ video incident. The Nerve screenshots

Prominent pro-Duterte vloggers — including Sasot, Chu, Jay Sonza, and Joie Cruz — also jumped in and attacked Hontiveros on their respective pages. Some of these were ad hominem attacks that insulted her character or humiliated her, or misogynistic attacks that belittled or sexualized her.

ATTACKS ON RISA. Prominent pro-Duterte figures hurl demeaning attacks toward Senator Risa Hontiveros. The Nerve screenshots

When Hontiveros filed a cyber libel complaint against Maurilio and the Pagtanggol Valiente social media accounts on July 2, she also called the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate certain individuals — including Sasot, Chu, Sonza, and Cruz — who amplified these lies.

However, these vloggers called the cyber libel complaint a “politically-motivated” move to silence dissent.

SILENCING DISSENT? Pro-Duterte figures named in Senator Risa Hontiveros’ cyber libel complaint denounce the move, claiming it silences dissent. The Nerve screenshots

Previously, Hontiveros also faced attacks related to her work in the Senate. Earlier in 2025, inauthentic accounts that spread propaganda against the senator’s anti-adolescent pregnancy bill baselessly claimed she was a mistress of an unnamed man. The same accounts also called her a pedophile over lies claiming comprehensive sexuality education would teach young children to masturbate.

Hontiveros, supporters fight back

After Maurilio’s video went viral, Hontiveros quickly debunked his claims and took steps to reclaim the narrative.

In a press conference on Monday, June 30, Hontiveros clarified that it was Maurilio who first approached her office and had asked for financial assistance from her team. The senator’s team declined to give him money, as they had a strict internal policy of not providing financial assistance to potential witnesses.

On Facebook, Hontiveros later shared several screenshots of her team’s correspondence with Maurilio.

Hontiveros supporters, some of whom operated behind suspicious accounts, also aggressively shared the senator’s videos into various Facebook communities. 

A Facebook account posting under the name Mel Panganiban shared a vertical video posted by Hontiveros into at least 33 Facebook groups. Many of these groups explicitly supported opposition politicians including Leni Robredo and senators Bam Aquino and Kiko Pangilinan. The account has over 43,000 followers as of writing, but the identical posts in question only earned a total of 265 interactions on the platform.

“If this man can’t back his claims against Senator Risa Hontiveros with solid evidence, then he doesn’t deserve airtime — he deserves jail time,” the posts read.

AGGRESSIVE AMPLIFICATION. A Facebook account shares a video from Senator Risa Hontiveros into various Facebook groups, many of which support the opposition. The Nerve screenshots

The anonymous Facebook page Pinas Thoughts also reuploaded the same video and shared it into at least four public groups. These posts garnered even less engagement on the platform, earning a total of only 15 interactions.

PUSHBACK. The Facebook page Pinas Thoughts shares a TikTok video from Senator Risa Hontiveros into several political Facebook groups. The Nerve screenshots

Rappler.com 

This story was originally published on Rappler on July 6, 2025.  It was made in collaboration with The Nerve, a data forensics company that enables changemakers to navigate real-world trends and issues through narrative and network investigations. Taking the best of human and machine, we enable partners to unlock powerful insights that shape informed decisions. Composed of a team of data scientists, strategists, award-winning storytellers, and designers, the company is on a mission to deliver data with real-world impact.

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