Revilla mulls cases over ‘orchestrated’ fake news blamed for poll loss

Metro Manila, Philippines - Outgoing Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. is pursuing legal action against online personalities, vloggers, and other individuals who allegedly spread disinformation that he claims contributed to his loss in the May midterm elections.

Revilla’s lawyer, Raymond Fortun, said they are considering filing “five to ten” cyber libel complaints against individuals accused of spreading false information about the senator’s plunder case.

“Senator Bong Revilla was falsely charged before the Sandiganbayan for having misused his PDAF (priority development assistance fund). He was rightfully acquitted from these false charges in 2018 and 2021,” Fortun said in a press conference at the Senate on Monday, May 26.

“Notwithstanding such acquittals, certain individuals and groups during the run-up to the 2025 elections continued to vilify him by spreading false and fake posts that he had been convicted and ordered by the Sandiganbayan to return P124.5 million,” he added.

Fortun said the disinformation campaign intensified two weeks before the May 12 elections.

“Lumalabas itong mga fake news na ito and the effect is that he landed 14th [These fake news stories started circulating, and as a result, he ended up placing 14th],” he said.

In a phone interview, Revilla acknowledged that there were other factors behind his electoral defeat but emphasized that it is time to address the issue of “fake news.”

“Dapat lang yung mga bawat indibidwal na gagamitin or kung sino man binayaran para sirain ako, dapat maging responsable sila sa sasabihin nila o gagawin nila,” he added.

[Translation: “Those individuals who are being used - or paid - to destroy me should be held accountable for what they say or do,” he added.]

Revilla said he believes there were “orchestrated” efforts to discredit him online but declined to speculate on possible sources.

“Sa aking palagay, yes, orchestrated ito. Kung anong kulay, ayoko nang alamin, siguro that's part of politics. Kasama ‘yan sa labanan ng eleksyon pero ang hindi lang maganda dito, ‘yung fake news,” Revilla said.

[Translation: In my view, yes, this is orchestrated. As for who’s behind it or their political affiliation, I don’t want to go into that - maybe it’s just part of politics. That comes with the territory during elections, but what’s unacceptable was the spread of fake news.]

Meanwhile, Fortun was quick to dismiss any involvement by allies of former President Rodrigo Duterte, as the elections were seen as a showdown between the Dutertes and the Marcoses.

“When you try to take a look at the five to ten individuals or personalities, titingnan mo rin kasi kung ano yung leanings nila, the posts that they have been making in the past, who they are associated with, what kind of issues that they make comments on, on social media, you will tend to see a lack of connection to the Duterte group,” he said.

He added that the Revilla camp is still vetting the list of people and will coordinate with the National Bureau of Investigation to identify those who used pseudonyms. Fortun expects the complaints to be filed within the next two weeks.

Revilla lost his re-election bid in the midterm elections, falling two spots short of entering the Magic 12, with a little over 12 million votes.