Gemoy Campaign And Bongbong Marcos' Victory In The Philippine Election

The 17th President of the Philippines, Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. (Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - Traces of Marcos' family have been destroyed in the Philippines. Ferdinand Marcos' government is known to be repressive, corrupt, and human rights violators. Everything changed thanks to the existence of his son, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who is familiarly called Bongbong, on the political stage.

Social media became Bongbong's field to look for votes to become President of the Philippines. Instead of just changing the image of his father from a dictator to a hero, Bongbong was able to amaze the people with Bongbong Marcos (BBM)-Sara's gemoy dance. A dance that led him to become the number one person in the Philippines.

Ferdinand Marcos Sr.'s bad reputation is well known throughout the country. The president of the Philippines in the 1965-1986 era is known for three reputations at once: Dictator, human rights violator, and corruptor. His leadership actually brought a lot of harm, rather than benefits.

Marcos controls everything. Among others, the mass media, terrorizes the people, and kills those who are not in line with the government. That fact made Marcos a common enemy of the Filipino people. Criticism comes from everywhere.

The Filipino people moved against Marcos' dictatorship. Ulam's beloved pinnacle arrives. Marcos finally stepped down in 1986. The dictator chose to flee to Hawaii rather than being the target of the Filipino people. The departure brought happiness as well as sadness at one time.

The people of the Philippines are happy because the dictator regime is running away. It is also sad that Marcos' departure brought along the country's wealth in the form of cash, jewelry, gold and stocks. The hatred of the Filipino people did not last long.

Marcos' family was again accepted by the Filipino people in 1991. Even though Ferdinand Marcos is dead. The Philippine government hopes Marcos' family will take responsibility for the political chaos caused.

Narrative is like an old weapon. Marcos' family was able to get along with politics. Bongbong Marcos, for example. His political career skyrocketed. He once felt the warm seat of Governor of North Ilocos in the 1990s. He has also been a senator and Minister of Agriculture of the Philippines.

This condition made Bongbong feel above the wind. He increasingly dared to make his dream of becoming President of the Philippines like his father. He then found the right formula: social media campaign. He used the campaign to run in the 2022 Philippine Presidential Election.

The Philippines is also the top country where respondents admit they are following the influence (influencer) of social media. The average global community is only 22.1 percent who use influencers as the main source of information. In the Philippines 51.7 percent, even for political and election issues. Influencers beat legitimate institutions, such as media, academics, and civil organizations.

Without good and reputationless verification standards, access given to influencers to produce content is very decisive in the spread of disinformation. This is what former President Rodrigo Duterte cleverly used in the 2016 presidential election, and now by Bongbong. Because of that, Bongbong rejected the debate on television and did not want to be interviewed by the mass media, especially the mainstream media against him," explained Trias Kuncahyono in his writing in the Kompas newspaper entitled Social Media and Bongbong's Victory (2022).

Facebook's social media, Youtube, to TikTok -- seemed to be the savior of Bongbong's popularity. His dream of restoring Marcos' family glory is one step towards reality. All because Bongbong was able to create disinformation and package an imagegemoy.

Gemoy here comes from a plenary word echo or adorable. Disinformation was later created by Bongbong by referring to the recitation of turning the facts around. His father's past sins began to be reduced. He laid down his father's narrative of a hero, rather than a dictator.

Social media machines containing influencers from various platforms are moved. The results are amazing. The mission is to spread disinformation to bring results. Bongbong was able to influence the perspective of young voters on Marcos' regime, who in fact did not feel living under his father's control which ended in 1986.

This fact is not just an empty message. The local Election Commission noted that overall registered voters reached 65.7 million. Among other things, more than 37 million are still 18-41 years old and 5 million are new election participants.

Bongbong began to lock up his victory with a campaign campaign. He and his vice presidential candidate, Sara Duterte - who incidentally is the President's son - also started making dance videos like young people. The dance was uploaded still with a narrative of the BBM-Sara dance and won the hearts of millions of young Filipinos.

The tutugemoy was followed by many social media celebrities. The strategy is accurate. Those who actually did not support Bongbong participated in spreading and even dancing to BBM-Sara. The club filled social media. The tracer of the Gemoy campaign and disinformation was used as a powerful test to win votes in the 2022 election.

He won easily in the Philippine presidential election. Bongbong became the elected President of the Philippines. This condition made the people of the Philippines forget the sins of their father's leadership. Since then, the political dynasty of Marcos' family as the ruler of the Philippines continues.

Another factor is the age of voters. About 56 percent of the 65.7 million registered voters are under 40 years of age. This means that they were not born during the Marcos Sr administration, or too young to remember them. Political expert, Teehankee said that social media, with its mandate to keep content short and concise, smoothing history "making myths and disinformation easier to embed in the minds of young voters."

Young people do not have any experience, memory, or knowledge of Marcos' regime. This condition legitimizes that Millennials and Gen Z seem to be the main drivers of support for Bongbong Marcos on social media. The Asian Pulse survey company also found that 72% of registered voters aged 18-24 supported Marcos, said Ella Hermono and Chad de Guzman in writing on the TIME page entitled A Dictator's Son Rewriting History on TikTok in His Bid to Become the Philippines' Next President(2022).