Vicente Castelo Sotto III, professionally known as Tito Sotto, is a Filipino politician, entertainer and athlete who served as Senate President from 2018 to 2022. Before that, he had two stints each as Senate Majority Leader and Senate Minority Leader. He served a total of four terms in the Senate: 1992 to 2004 and 2010 to 2022, tying the record for the longest-serving Senator with Lorenzo Tañada and Franklin Drilon. In between his stints in the Senate, he led the Dangerous Drugs Board for a year. He became the Vice Mayor of Quezon City from 1988 to 1992, and later unsuccessfully ran for vice president in the 2022 elections as Panfilo Lacson's running mate.
Maria Angelita Ressa is a Filipino and American journalist. She is the co-founder and CEO of Rappler. She previously spent nearly two decades working as a lead investigative reporter in Southeast Asia for CNN. She will become Professor of Professional Practice in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University on July 1, 2024, and will be a Distinguished Fellow at Columbia's new Institute of Global Politics beginning in the fall of 2023.
Constitutional reform in the Philippines, also known as charter change, refers to the political and legal processes needed to amend the current 1987 Constitution of the Philippines. Under the common interpretation of the Constitution, amendments can be proposed by one of three methods: a People's Initiative, a Constituent Assembly or a Constitutional Convention.
Esther Margaux Justiniano Uson, better known as Mocha Uson, is a controversial Filipino singer, actress, dancer, model, political blogger, and public official widely known for spreading fake news and disinformation. She is also a co-founder of the group Mocha Girls.
Mocha Girls is an all-female singing and dancing group from the Philippines. The current line-up consists of members Chloe Recto, Renzy Silvestre, Jade Dela Peña, Princess Chan and Rica Mae Sanchez. The Mocha Girls have released four albums: A Taste of Mocha (2006), Mocha (2007), Deliciosa (2008), and Pinay Ako (2012).
Maria Leonor "Leni" Robredo is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 14th vice president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. She previously served as the representative of the 3rd district of Camarines Sur from 2013 to 2016.
Maria Lourdes "Nancy" Sombillo Binay-Angeles is a Filipina politician serving as a Senator since 2013. She is the daughter of former Vice President Jejomar Binay. Without any prior experience in government, Binay placed a bid for a seat in the Senate in the 2013 elections and won, placing fifth overall. After being elected, Binay chaired both the Cultural Communities and the Tourism committees of the Senate in the 17th Congress. Binay was re-elected in the 2019 elections for a second consecutive term.
Rappler is a Filipino online news website based in Pasig, Metro Manila, the Philippines. It was founded by 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa along with a group of fellow Filipino journalists as well as technopreneurs. It started as a Facebook page named MovePH in August 2011 and evolved into a website on January 1, 2012.
Protests against Former President Rodrigo Duterte escalated on November 18, 2016, following Duterte's support of the burial of the late president Ferdinand Marcos. These series of protests are mostly conducted by progressive groups and other opposing figures mainly due to the ongoing war on drugs, the declaration of martial law in Mindanao, and employment issues such as contractual terms being applied by companies and inflation which occurred due to the passage of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law. Other causes of the protests include the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, the passage of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, and the shutdown and franchise denial of ABS-CBN.
Shibby Lapeña de Guzman is a Filipina youth activist. She is best known for her protests against the burial of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani and against extrajudicial killings amid the anti-drug campaign of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. She was named as one of the thirty most influential teenagers of 2017 by Time magazine.
Rey Joseph "RJ" Pengson Nieto, known also by his alias Thinking Pinoy, is a Filipino blogger and opinion columnist. He writes an op-ed column for the Manila Bulletin and also owns a blog site, where he publishes his opinions on Filipino politics. A well-known and vocal supporter of Rodrigo Duterte, he has drawn controversies and faced legal proceedings for allegations of libel and spreading disinformation, as well as his counter-criticisms against he and the administration's critics.
Leni Robredo, the 14th Vice President of the Philippines, has held various foreign, domestic, economic, and social positions over the course of her career. She has supported women's rights and women empowerment, human rights, ending endo contractualization, and policies that are pro-poor. As the chairperson of the Liberal Party during her vice presidency, Robredo was the leader of the opposition against President Rodrigo Duterte, taking positions that are contrary to that of the Duterte administration's policies, opposing federalism and charter change, the reimposition of the death penalty, warmer relations with China, and the war on drugs.
Harold Clavite was the Director-General of the Philippine Information Agency. He was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte in July 2016 and remained in office until August 2019.
A Thousand Cuts is a 2020 Philippine-American documentary film about Maria Ressa, the founder of the online news site Rappler. Directed by Ramona Diaz, it explores the conflicts between the press and the Filipino government under President Rodrigo Duterte.
Fake news in the Philippines refers to the general and widespread misinformation or disinformation in the country by various actors. It has been problematic in the Philippines where social media and alike plays a key role in influencing topics and information ranging from politics, health, belief, religion, current events, aid, lifestyle, elections and others. Recently, it has evolved to be a rampant issue against the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines and the 2022 Philippine general election.
People of the Philippines v. Santos, Ressa and Rappler (R-MNL-19-01141-CR), also known as the Maria Ressa cyberlibel case, is a high-profile criminal case in the Philippines, lodged against Maria Ressa, co-owner and CEO of Rappler Inc.. Accused of cyberlibel, Ressa was found guilty by a Manila Regional Trial Court on June 15, 2020.
Federalism was one of the main campaign promises of Rodrigo Duterte when he ran for President of the Philippines in 2016. His administration pursued a proposal which would shift the Philippines from being under a unitary form of government to a federal one.
Willie Tan Ong is a Filipino cardiologist, internist and media personality who rose to prominence for giving medical advice through his Facebook page and YouTube channel. Ong was also a candidate for the 2019 Philippine Senate election, largely capitalizing on his social media presence. He was a candidate for vice president in the 2022 Philippine presidential election as the running mate of former mayor of Manila Isko Moreno.
The 2022 presidential campaign of Isko Moreno began on September 22, 2021, when Isko Moreno announced his intention to run for the presidency in the 2022 Philippine presidential election. Isko Moreno has served as the mayor of Manila, the country's capital city, from June 30, 2019 to June 30, 2022.
"Pepederalismo" refers to a dance and jingle on an internet video featuring Drew Olivar and Mocha Uson. A part of the duo's online video series Good News Game Show with Drew and Mocha, the particular video was meant to promote then-Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's campaign for the adoption of a federal form of government in the Philippines.
