by Melody Jade Soriano
The limelight is on the Peanut Media Gallery Network, and Franco Mabanta would have loved the clout that could increase his “news organization” social media traffic.
Social media gave Mabanta the ability to frame itself as a proprietary source of relevant news and information, but the only thing they did adjacent to journalism was to form public opinion. But for whom? For what? Or for how much?
In May 2026, the tables turned. He became the subject of public opinion when media headlines announced his arrest by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in an operation allegedly exposing his extortion of Martin Romualdez.
According to the NBI, Mabanta tried to extort 300 million from Romualdez in exchange for not releasing an ‘expose’ of Romualdez. Manbanta received the marked money from the NBI agents and was then arrested.
Mabanta is not a journalist, but a good communicator with questionable motivations. He started out as a videojockey, theater actor, commercial model, host, then took momentum with the rise of social media through taking selfies with victims and shifted as a “political operator”, posting hot political takes online with entertaining video edits and click bait captions.
Through his momentum, he created Peanut Gallery Media Network (PGMN) which describes itself as “the only Philippine media channel in pursuit of free speech absolutism.”
In case studies from four years of journalism school, no Philippine media, not even GMA News or the Inquirer is brazen enough to single out itself as the golden standard of free speech. Similarly, no news channel has a merchandise tab in its website selling #freeBarzaga t-shirts, hoodies, gym shirts, and flavored peanut butter with anchor’s faces printed on it.
While Mabanta is out on bail, the justice system will dictate his guilt or innocence. The tables have turned–Mabanta with his political messaging has called out for justice for the Dutertes, for Barzaga, against Romualdez, but now the justice system dictates his fate.
Social Media allowed Mabanta to wear the mask of a journalist. The right font, the correct colors, and the strategic edits may easily blur the line between a journalist and a propagandist.
A light reminder for readers–while the algorithm dictates our feed, aside from algorithm reliance actively seeking out our political diet by going through news websites, searching for actual news, instead of passively relying on what would pop out could help us be active news seekers in a digital world.
It is not just Mabanta, the business of propaganda has been instilled in the media in pursuit of winning hearts and votes and strategically releasing half-truths in protection of interests. Viewers are warned to be extra cautious in determining whether the motivation is money or the truth, whether the public is sought to be informed or sought to be taken advantage of.
THE BARRISTER 