(Part of OpinYon Laguna series for the 2025 midterm elections)
Brace yourselves, San Pedrenses: a nasty 2025 election period is coming.
Black propaganda, after all, is nothing new to local politics in San Pedro City, Laguna (can anyone still remember way back in 1998 when former councilor Boy Tayao was accused in pamphlets of being a drug lord?).
However, these early, political analysts are worried that the campaign period in San Pedro City could degenerate into one big mudslinging fight.
One early sign that politics in this city of 174,499 voters (as of the 2022 election) could turn dark and nasty is the latest online poll fielded by OpinYon Laguna last June 15.
Heated race
This latest survey by OpinYon Laguna centered on one of the potentially hottest political races the city may see: the race over the city’s lone congressional seat.
To recall, the 1st district of Laguna now comprises solely of San Pedro City after the cities of Biñan and Santa Rosa got their own seats in Congress in 2016 and 2022, respectively. (There is now a pending bill in Congress to declare the 1st District as the “Lone District of San Pedro City.”)
To date, two women have found themselves to be the front-runners for the city’s congressional seat: incumbent Representative Ann Matibag and Mika Mercado, wife of incumbent Mayor Art Mercado, who is now being encouraged by Mercado supporters to run for office.
If Mika Mercado does decide to run, political analysts say, it would make for an interesting fight: two couples battling over control of San Pedro City, as Representative Matibag’s husband, former National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) president and San Pedrense political boss Melvin Matibag, is also rumored to challenge incumbent Art Mercado in the mayoralty race.
To further gauge public opinion, OpinYon Laguna decided to include another potential competitor in the survey: former Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC) president Dave Almarinez, whom Ann Matibag defeated in the 2022 elections.
Mudslinging on social media
Back to the surveys: as of Friday, June 21, the online survey for San Pedro City’s congressional district had garnered over 8,965 total reactions, 1,556 comments, and 383 total shares on Facebook.
But what OpinYon Laguna did not expect is the number of harsh comments spewed by what appears to be the “online armies” of the Matibag and Mercado camps not only on the comments section but also on separate posts on social media.
Both sides have accused one another of allegedly mobilizing their troll armies to inflate the results of the online surveys. (For the record, Mercado currently leads the online survey with more or less 5,400 reactions over Matibag’s 3,400 reactions.)
Some anonymous pages have also tended to either belittle the survey results or accuse not only rival camps but even OpinYon Laguna itself of alleged bias and favoritism in the survey results.
Trolls are at it again
Much like the earlier online surveys fielded by OpinYon Laguna in its social media page, the survey for the congressional race in San Pedro City has also been marred by trolls attempting to manipulate the results.
Data analysis conducted by the OpinYon news team showed that out of the total 6,200 reactions to the post, half – or over 3,300 reactions – came from spurious social media accounts. (OpinYon Laguna’s team of researchers classified these spurious accounts as coming from Vietnam, as well as from “posers” and users with “locked” profiles.)
Meanwhile, a total of 693 reactions to the survey came from social media accounts that are not based in San Pedro City at all.
A closer look at the legitimate reactions to the surveys, on the other hand, showed Mika Mercado gaining traction among the city’s youth.
Data analysis on the legitimate reactions showed Mercado gaining the biggest support from social media users aged 18 to 40, while Matibag drew the most support from social media users aged 41 to 60.
“Hindi natin alam kung nare-reflect ba talaga ng awayang nagaganap ngayon sa social media between the Mercado and Matibag supporters ang tunay na sentimyento ng mga San Pedrense. Pero isa lang ang ating masasabi dito: dapat suriing mabuti ng mga botante ang track record at kakayahan ng mga kandidato, at huwag magpatangay sa mga bangayan sa social media,” one political analyst told OpinYon Laguna.
(With reports by Lhouzyline Zhaireel Saban and RJ Salarda)
#WeTakeAStand #OpinYon #OpinYonNews #ElectionPollsSurvey #Election2025