‘A SECOND FLOOD’: How suspicious FB accounts turned Iloilo City’s flood control anomaly into a narrative war

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

Even as floods exposed questions about unfinished and allegedly anomalous flood control projects in Iloilo City, another kind of flood was forming online.

Daily Guardian (DG) found that a recurring pool of Facebook accounts crossed political pages and news reports, where the battle over blame, credibility, and truth unfolded in real time.

In the parallel flooding that took shape online, these recurring accounts carried familiar partisan roles: defending allies, attacking rivals, and contesting scandal narratives across multiple comment spaces.

“Mahiya naman kayo (you should be ashamed),” said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., as he slammed corrupt officials and contractors during his fourth State of the Nation Address.

Against the national backdrop, the Iloilo City flood control controversy grew into more than a dispute over public works.

It became a test of accountability, credibility, and political control.

At the center of the issue are alleged unfinished, substandard, or even missing Department of Public Works and Highways flood-mitigation and waterway projects worth billions of pesos, projects that coincided with worsening floods instead of relief.

But as scrutiny intensified, the issue was rapidly absorbed into the running feud between the Treñas camp and the Baronda camp, whose long-standing political alignment fractured ahead of the 2025 elections.

As the controversy deepened, so did the battle to define it.

Who caused the problem?

Who is telling the truth?

Who gets to present themselves as the real defender of Ilonggos?

Public discussion quickly moved beyond project status, permits, funding, contractor links, and flood outcomes.

It hardened into accusations, counteraccusations, and camp-driven messaging, turning what began as a question of infrastructure into a broader battle over narrative and political legitimacy.

To examine how that struggle unfolded online, DG analyzed 10 Facebook flood control posts each from official Facebook pages of Former Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas, Iloilo City Mayor Raisa Treñas, and Lone District Rep. Julienne “JamJam” Baronda during the study period of July 28 to December 31, 2025.

The page of Vice Mayor Love Baronda was excluded because no flood control-related post from her account was monitored within the same period.

DG also reviewed 18 of its flood control reports published within that timeframe.

From a total of 1,966 accounts and 3,470 comments scraped from the flood control posts, including DG’s, 66 accounts were identified to have repeatedly appeared both in politician-linked threads and in DG’s own reports.

Those accounts were then manually reviewed for recurring traits, including newly created profiles, tightly clustered creation dates, limited public activity, and locked or restricted pages.

The 66 accounts investigated do not behave like isolated supporters who remain within the orbit of one political page.

Instead, they moved across the digital battle lines, appearing in the pages of the politicians and resurfacing in DG’s flood control reports.

At the comment level, the pattern becomes clearer.

These accounts did not simply reappear across pages.

They also tended to carry the same partisan roles, talking points, and confrontational styles from one space to another.

 

That crossover mattered because DG’s comment sections exposed those patterns to a broader and more mixed audience.

In that setting, the comments did more than react to the news.

They also became vehicles for attacking rival camps, defending allies, contesting criticism, and shaping public perception outside politician-controlled pages.

The crossover was even more striking when it extended into rival political spaces.

Notably, DG found nine JamJam-linked accounts in Jerry Treñas’s comment sections, suggesting that some JamJam-linked accounts moved beyond support and defense into direct engagement inside an opposing camp’s own comment environment.

JamJam-linked accounts: supportive in allied spaces, confrontational in rival spaces

Among the monitored sample, JamJam-linked accounts showed the clearest pattern of message continuity across different comment environments.

On JamJam-linked posts, they largely functioned as a supportive amplification bloc.

Their comments tended to praise Baronda, describe her as hardworking, caring, and action-oriented, and present her as a leader who listens, takes initiative, and represents the public well.

These commenters also help validate JamJam Baronda’s version of events.

Rather than questioning the projects, they emphasize dialogue, consultation, transparency, accountability, and long-term solutions.

In DG’s reports, that supportive role often shifted into defensive narrative work.

These accounts frequently pushed back against allegations of “ghost projects” or irregularities by insisting that projects were real, ongoing, delayed, or near completion.

They also redirected blame toward factors such as DPWH delays, permit issues, right-of-way problems, or political obstruction.

They also frame the reports and Treñas-aligned criticism as fake news, political demolition, or one-sided narrative-building.

Many comments accuse the opposing camp of twisting facts, downplaying actual project progress, or using flood control as a political weapon.

But the concentration of JamJam-linked accounts did not remain confined to JamJam-linked spaces and DG’s reports.

In Jerry’s posts, JamJam-linked accounts appeared to take on a more confrontational role.

There, they often functioned as an oppositional bloc, challenging Jerry’s credibility, questioning his record.

Their comments frequently accused the former mayor of unfinished and “ghost” projects, and of failing to solve long-running problems.

Some comments portrayed him as a performative or politically opportunistic individual, who is only vocal after leaving the City Hall.

Others contracted his posting about major flood control projects or large infrastructure claims with the lived reality on the ground: recurring flooding, damaged roads, inconvenience, and public suffering.

When these same JamJam-linked accounts appeared in DG’s flood control reports, the function of their comments shifted. In allied spaces, they amplified JamJam Baronda.

In DG’s reports, they also shifted into a defensive posture, protecting Baronda, disputing allegations of irregularities, and reframing the controversy as a matter of delays, process issues, or political distortion rather than fraud or fabrication.

Jerry-linked accounts: accountability reinforcement and attack-oriented criticism

Jerry-linked accounts displayed a different but similarly recurring pattern.

On Jerry’s own posts, these accounts most often reinforced an accountability-focused reading of the flood control issue.

Their comments tended to validate criticism of project failure and stress public harm.

Their comments reinforce the idea that residents suffered, that the projects were mishandled or “palpak,” and that the public deserves answers.

In DG’s reports, that same camp-linked tendency often became sharper and more accusatory. Jerry-linked accounts use the reports to intensify criticism of JamJam Baronda’s side, question the legitimacy of the flood control projects, and keep the corruption-and-failure narrative visible.

Their comments often used language associated with corruption, theft, abuse of funds, and deception, framing the issue not simply as poor implementation, but as a matter of wrongdoing and public betrayal.

Raisa-linked accounts: supportive reinforcement and governance critique

Raisa-linked accounts appeared less frequently in the monitored sample than JamJam- or Jerry-linked accounts.

Even so, they showed recognizable patterns.

On Raisa, these accounts largely behaved as a supportive bloc.

Their comments praised her inspections, thanked her for action, and framed her as seriously engaging the flood control problem.

Another major behavior is reinforcing the idea that the controversy is an accountability issue.

These accounts echo the view that the projects were flawed, poorly checked, wasteful, or harmful to residents.

In DG’s reports, Raisa-linked comments more often turned toward criticism of JamJam Baronda-linked figures and a wider governance critique.

These comments tended to frame the anomaly as evidence of public harm, weak accountability, or questionable project management.

Some extended the argument further, connecting the controversy to broader concerns about corruption or governance failure.

The follow network

Beyond clustered creation dates, limited Facebook activity, and repeated appearances in politically charged comment sections, the monitored accounts also showed a distinct pattern in whom they followed on Facebook.

Their attention was not spread evenly across random pages.

It was clustered around a relatively small set of political figures, local media organizations, and Iloilo-based public-interest or partisan pages.

At the center of that ecosystem is Vice Mayor Love Baronda, the most followed account in the monitored set, with 34 follower accounts.

Her sister, Rep. JamJam Baronda, followed closely with 32.

Councilor Sheen Marie Mabilog and former mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog are among the several other heavily followed names.

The data also showed that the strongest concentration appeared around JamJam Baronda-linked figures and pages.

Vice Mayor Love Baronda is followed mainly by JamJam-linked accounts, with a smaller but still notable number of Jerry-linked followers, while JamJam Baronda showed the same pattern.

But the network is not made up only of politicians and their allies.

A second major pillar consists of established local media organizations, including DYRI RMN Iloilo, Panay News, Daily Guardian, Bombo Radyo Iloilo, Aksyon Radyo Iloilo, K5 News FM Iloilo 88.7, and XFM Radyo Patrol Iloilo.

The accounts also follow politician-interest pages such as Iloilo DAILY News and Bugtaw Iloilo.

Iloilo DAILY News, created only on March 10, 2025, was heavily followed by JamJam-linked accounts.

A review of its posts showed content targeting individuals associated with the Treñas camp, particularly their party-mates during the May 2025 midterm elections.

Bugtaw iloilo, created on March 3, 2022 and had around 10,000 likes and 16,000 followers, carried posts critical of the Treñas administration.

Meme, image flooding

The narrative contest was not driven by text comments alone.

DG’s comment sections were also repeatedly seeded with memes, graphics, and image-based comments that pushed political claims in visual form.

In some threads, these materials appeared to function as a parallel layer of narrative warfare: compressing allegations, associations, and accusations into highly shareable images rather than longer arguments.

For the Treñas camp, one recurring line of attack in these visuals centered on their alleged links to Uswag Ilonggo party-list Rep. James “Jojo” Ang Jr., whose name surfaced in the broader national flood control scandal.

The visuals drew on that controversy to insinuate that the Treñas camp had also benefited from flood control kickbacks or enabled a wider corruption network.

Some images also tied this line of attack to the controversial Ungka flyover, which was constructed by International Builders Corp., the firm where Ang once worked before he entered politics.

For JamJam Baronda, the visual attacks followed a different chain of associations.

Some memes linked her to former Iloilo mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog and to former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Mabilog is a “special adviser” to Romualdez, who are among the political figures drawn into the widening flood control scandal.

These images worked to suggest that JamJam Baronda’s political ties placed her within a wider landscape of alleged flood control corruption.

In some cases, the visuals also echoed separate allegations already circulating against her.

In late March 2025, a graft complaint was filed before the Ombudsman against JamJam Baronda over alleged unexplained wealth and illicit gains.

Another recurring visual theme invoked the scale of flood control spending in Iloilo City from 2023 to 2025, contrasting reported project costs with continued flooding, visible delays, and unfinished works in some parts of the city.

The effect of these images was to compress a complex accountability debate into simplified visual claims: billions spent, flooding unresolved, and rival politicians framed as connected to the scandal.

Some of the memes also drew on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s own language about “delayed” and “substandard” flood control projects in the Jaro district during his August 2025 inspection.

Signals of coordinated inauthentic behavior

Janina Santos of DoubleThink Lab, a think tank that tracks malign influence operations, said the repeated appearance of the same pool of accounts is “analytically significant” and “may indicate coordinated inauthentic behavior (CIB).”

“The fact that they use inauthentic [accounts] and share similar narratives are strong indicators of coordination,” she said.

Santos said the behavior of the accounts also pointed to what appeared to be a “deliberate and well-planned communication pattern,”  with narratives and roles tailored to produce specific reactions in the spaces where they operated.

“They may want to reinforce support from netizens engaging in pages that support their principal; attack, silence, and counter the critics; and move fence sitters to tilt towards the politician they support,” she added.

She explained that when a political narrative is made to appear repeated, common, and publicly validated online, it can become more influential since repeated exposure can create a sense that the narrative is the objective truth, thus “making it a more potent element in influencing people’s hearts and minds, and eventually, behaviors and decisions.”

For Santos, the repeated activity of these accounts in a broader media or public-facing comment space suggests that DG was not merely a marginal overlap destination.

It had also become a major engagement venue in the broader struggle over political narrative.

She said the appearance of these accounts in DG’s comment sections pointed to an effort to reach wider audiences, turning a news outlet’s public-facing platform into an active battleground for narrative engagement rather than a neutral spillover space.

“Media organizations may have more significant reach than political pages. Thus, commenting on their posts will also expand the reach of the narratives and content of these operators,” she said.

“This may serve to reinforce the support for the politician, antagonize critics, move fence sitters, or, if the media is critical of their principal, attack the media organization and deplete their credibility,” she added.

Compared with text comments, Santos highlighted that image-based content can be especially potent for a coordinated effort.

Images and memes, she said, can evoke emotions and trigger reactions more quickly.

“These kinds of operations (CIB) thrive on using powerful emotions – anger, for instance – to co-opt them to fulfill a certain goal or objective, for instance, attacking a rival politician,” she said.

The stakes of narrative warfare

Dr. Joshua Uyheng, director of the Ateneo Political Psychology of Democratization Laboratory, said the case of Iloilo City shows that political actors recognize the online public sphere as “important real estate” in advancing their interests.

“Projecting the image of a united front can sometimes lead to people actually acting united; projecting the image of chaos and division can also trigger actual discord and antagonism,” he stressed.

In a highly contentious issue such as the flood control anomaly, Uyheng said, shaping public opinion can become an important form of political struggle for rival local actors.

Accountability, he said, operates both at the institutional level and in the court of public opinion, with each influencing the other.

“Public pressure can push momentum for institutional accountability, while institutional judgments may also shift public views,” he added.

However, he pointed out that it remains uncertain how much these dynamics ultimately affect political leaders, or whether favorable public narratives can help blunt institutional scrutiny.

Still, he said that in complex and emotionally charged issues such as flood control — where public frustration, daily hardship, and allegations of corruption intersect — even relatively small shifts in narrative can carry wider consequences.

“Specific groups or leaders can attenuate public attention or redirect it toward some targets more than others, they may stand to benefit. Public attention and outrage, after all, can be limited resources,” he said.

On whether this kind of narrative-building could serve as a political tool ahead of the 2028 elections, Uyheng said no major issue is ever entirely off-limits in political contestation.

But he also stressed that narratives do not automatically determine electoral outcomes.

He said the flood control controversy is rooted in governance and accountability concerns, but it can also be mobilized politically in ways that shape how voters assign blame, evaluate leaders, and eventually decide at the polls.

“For certain narratives to affect electoral discourse, work has to be done to convince the public that such narratives are indeed pertinent to the elections. What elections are ‘about’ is not a given, but an achievement of top-down as well as bottom-up political action,” he said.

DG’s findings do not, on their own, prove direct command or formal coordination.

But they do show a persistent pattern: the same accounts crossing political and media spaces, carrying familiar partisan roles, and helping shape how the public sees one of Iloilo City’s most consequential controversies.

In a city already burdened by flooding, the deeper danger may be this: when narrative manipulation begins to shape public understanding of accountability, who gets to define the truth?

— With research by Rei Ebenezer Duhina, Daily Guardian Intern

This report was made possible by an Internews- and EU-supported project to build the capacity of news organizations in understanding disinformation and influence operations in the Philippines.