News coverage on the arrest and subsequent release on bail of Franco Mabanta, owner of the online-only Peanut Gallery Media Network (PGMN), for allegedly trying to extort hundreds of millions of pesos from Representative Martin Romualdez has been, to say the least, extensive. Lengthy profiles of Mabanta have been published. If one were not previously aware of PGMN and the group’s roster of commentators, called “anchors,” one may have a slightly better chance of encountering them now. The PGMN-produced 90-minute “documentary” on the presidential first cousin—which was supposedly the means to blackmail he whose reputation has long been in the gutter—has been released. To be very complimentary about it, it is a video that exists.
This is not about Mabanta nor even exclusively about PGMN. Regarding the former, perhaps the most notable thing about him (prior to his arrest) is his PR work for a number of politicians/inveterate liars, such as Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. back when he was last in between jobs (sometime between June 2016 and June 2022). Regarding the latter, based on information available at the Security and Exchange Commission’s SEC Express website, the articles of incorporation and bylaws of PGMN were filed on August 14, 2024; they uploaded their first video on their YouTube channel on November 3, 2024. Their social media follower count, less than two years after they started out, is quite impressive.
Perhaps this article functions best as a postscript, assuming that little more will be said about PGMN’s contributions to our public discourse, as there are much more pressing (running, voting, arresting, holing up) things to talk about. Or if they intend to maintain a certain degree of notoriety (as the Marcoses and the Dutertes duke it out for the title of most undesirable political dynasty ever), perhaps Mabanta and his people can help clear up one thing: why did the digital platforms of the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s publisher, the Inquirer Group, such as Inquirer.net, publish around thirty articles about PGMN content between November 2024 and May 2025, all of which were merely uncritical summaries of PGMN videos?
Here is a list of those articles, published in Inquirer.net or other Inquirer publications (such as Bandera), arranged chronologically and indicating which anchor, if any, they feature:
2024 (at least 18 articles): “James Deakin challenges claims of electric vehicles’ eco benefits,” on PGMN’s very first episode, November 4, 2024; “CJ Hirro analyzes Isko Moreno’s dominance in Manila’s mayoral race,” November 6, 2024; “Jourdan Sebastian says expecting politicians to fight corruption is ‘nonsense,’” November 7, 2024; “Orion Perez reflects on Constitution, Lee Kuan Yew’s vision for PH,” November 8, 2024; “Raffy Zamora appeals to fathers to forge strong bonds with kids,” November 9, 2024; “As Trump reclaims the Presidency, James Deakin says ‘people have had enough’ of celebrity endorsements,” November 14, 2024; “CJ Hirro says Trump’s victory ‘a middle Finger to wokeness,’” November 19, 2024; “Orion Perez examines what Trump’s second presidency means for PH,” November 21, 2024; “Chavit’s rare tears break ‘masamang damo’ image in emotional reveal,” (documentary on Chavit Singson), November 26, 2024; “Senatoriable Chavit Singson hindi ‘masamang damo,’” (still on the Chavit documentary) November 26, 2024; “Senatorial candidate Chavit Singson addresses vlogger who ‘insulted’ him,” (featuring Jourdan Sebastian), November 26, 2024; “Ginelle Sequitin explains wealth divide between super rich and super poor,” November 29, 2024; “Raffy Zamora examines LeBron James’ fatherhood: Is he a good dad?” November 29, 2024; “CJ Hirro tells President, Vice President: This is what we get from you?” December 2, 2024; “Raffy Zamora exposes truth about screens raising kids,” December 6, 2024; “Hazel Calawod, Carlos Yulo’s coach, shares advice on combating workplace stress,” December 9, 2024; “Weak men enable toxic relationships – MMA fighter Louie Sangalang,” December 11, 2024; “Leadership under fire: Jourdan Sebastian calls out VP Duterte in viral vlog,” December 13, 2024.
2025 (at least 12 articles, two of which are Filipino versions of pieces first published in English): “Orion Perez rips Filipinos’ love for a failing gov’t system and basketball,” January 8, 2025; “Harvard-certified coach explains how toxic relationships are rewiring your brain,” January 9, 2025; “CJ Hirro calls Manila garbage crisis Lacuna admin’s biggest catastrophe,” January 15, 2025; “‘Legendaddy’ Raffy Zamora throws weight behind parents’ rights,” February 5, 2025; “Raffy Zamora: ‘Men in women’s sports is injustice, not inclusion,’” March 2, 2025; “Raffy Zamora backs social media ban: Save kids’ mental health, childhood,” March 8, 2025; “Orion Perez blasts economic restrictions: ‘Filipino first’ is hurting PH,” March 9, 2025; “PGMN host slams QC Rep. Rillo for alleged P75-M project irregularities” (featuring CJ Hirro), April 20, 2025; “PGMN host binatikos si QC Rep. Rillo sa umano’y anomalya sa P75-M project” (featuring CJ Hirro), April 21, 2025; “PGMN’s CJ Hirro challenges Rep. Rillo to live debate over P71-M accusation,” April 26, 2025; “QC Cong. Marvin Rillo hinamon sa debate ukol sa P71-M proyekto na ‘di pa natatapos,” April 28, 2025; and “PGMN isiniwalat ang pagbabalik ni Isko: Mula alkalde ng 2019 hanggang sa pagtakbo sa 2025,” May 5, 2025.
At no point do the articles state that PGMN was new (even when it was an episode old) or disclose anything about the people behind it, as if it has always existed and has long been a trusted news and public affairs source. One may even say that they make it appear like PGMN is an affiliate of the Inquirer Group without saying so outright. Most of the articles were published close to the date when the videos were released.
Questions arise: were the Inquirer articles on PGMN content written because someone in the more venerable platform simply found them newsworthy? Did PGMN reach out specifically to Inquirer.net to help their productions reach audiences? Are the articles actually advertorials or instances of “native advertising”? Inquirer.net does label some of their advertisements-masquerading-as-articles as advertorials or “branded content.” None of their articles on PGMN’s productions are labeled as such.
A number of the articles prop up or take down certain politicians. Isko Moreno is described as the mayoral candidate to beat in Manila; one article/video names his immediate predecessor (and former vice mayor), Honey Lacuna, as the culprit behind Manila’s garbage problem. Several articles/videos identify Chavit Singson as a would-be ideal senator, back before he withdrew his candidacy; not included in the list above is an article titled “Chavit Singson helps single mom with kid’s college fees in charity show,” dated December 27, 2024, which identifies PGMN anchors CJ Hirro and Jourdan Sebastian as the hosts of the titular charity program. Perhaps the most infamous politico takedowns of PGMN (prior to that on Romualdez) were those focused on Marvin Rillo, who ran for reelection as representative of the 4th District of Quezon City in 2025. Rillo lost to Bong Suntay by less than 250 votes.
The other Inquirer-featured PGMN content collectively paint a picture of the network as somewhat politically neutral (but on the surface, seemingly more critical of Vice President Sara Duterte than Bongbong), and largely appealing to a rather economically liberal, anti-“Woke,” Christian conservative (even “Make America Great Again”/Trumpist) audience, with anchors talking about parenting, romantic relationships, and, to complete a dinner-table trifecta, constitutional reform.
Most of these characteristics of PGMN’s content were also noted in a study published by the Sigla Research Center in 2025, which referred to the media company as “Conservative Anti-Woke Infotainment,” though no mention is made in the study of any linkages between PGMN and mainstream media outlets.
Interestingly, there was no further coverage of PGMN’s content in online Inquirer media after the 2025 elections concluded, which also coincided with the merger of the Inquirer Group’s previously distinct digital and print faces, with the former absorbing the latter. Still, it appears that no other reputable mainstream media company has helped to directly or indirectly advertise PGMN content more than the Inquirer Group (articles it published on Inquirer.net were of course also disseminated via Inquirer social media accounts).
Antonio Inares/Iñares, or “A.I.”?
Most of the abovementioned articles were published without anyone’s byline. A few (1-3 each) are authored by Jan Escosio, who has been writing for the Inquirer at least since 2011; Jason Sigales, who, based on his LinkedIn profile, has been a multimedia reporter for Inquirer.net since October 2024; and Dianne Sampang, who has also done on-cam reportage. Of the articles with a designated author, most (seven) are attributed to a fascinating figure, whose very existence—like that of Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, or your neighborhood manananggal—has been questioned: Antonio Inares/Iñares, the Inquirer Group’s “A.I.”
That the author’s name has two inconsistently used versions is itself curious. The latter version of Antonio’s surname does not, like the first one, appear to be a variation of the fairly common Henares or the rarer-but-not-unheard-of Ynares. The “n” has a tilde above it, demanding that the surname be pronounced “in-YA-rez.” Though probably not as difficult as meeting someone with the surname “Piattos,” many in the country will probably go through life without meeting anyone with that surname.
Indeed, just searching for either variation of the surname on Google in the Philippines will lead one to several pages of search results containing almost nothing but links to the work of Antonio, who appears to have worked exclusively for PDI. The other search results include a February 2025 Rappler article by Victor Barreiro Jr., who notes that Antonio Inares articles “are often political in nature and, on a closer reading, all positive press for particular politicians” and that among journalists, “the suspicion is that Antonio Inares is a pseudonym for seeded or AI-generated political articles — thus the initials ‘A.I.’”
There does appear to be a lot of evidence to support the “A.I. is AI” theory. As Barreiro notes, it appears that no one in journalistic circles have met him during any press coverage, and he does not appear to have any LinkedIn/social media accounts. His earliest articles in Inquirer.net were published in March 2023, when the use of ChatGPT was already widespread. Moreover, as noted by at least one online observer, which can be confirmed by examining the author’s most recent articles, Inares/Iñares appears to have (been) quietly retired after Barreiro and others raised concerns about him (or it). (The articles on PGMN authored by Escosio, Sigales, and Sampang only came out after Inares/Iñares ceased to produce new contributions.)
While using “A.I” as the initials of a “writer” of AI-generated content seems particularly idiotic, it should be noted that human stupidity knows no bounds.
It is also notable that only two of the PGMN Inquirer articles authored by Inares/Iñares are about Filipino politicians (Singson and Rillo), while the rest do not concern domestic politics; a trilogy of articles on PGMN videos about Donald Trump’s 2024 win is attributed to the man/machine. But regardless of who ostensibly authored the articles, practically all of them are written the same way: summaries of the videos from start to finish, with superfluous adjectives or adverbs (“uncharacteristically fiery,” “scathing new episode”) thrown in here and there, overall suggesting a degree of novelty or depth or research that isn’t really there. That such stylistically identical articles can easily be generated with AI again raises questions: what exactly are these supposedly non-advertorial articles? Did PGMN and certain people in the Inquirer’s digital platforms have some sort of tie up?
Another Romualdez Link?
“People in the Inquirer” include the media conglomerate’s owners, among whom are close relatives of Martin Romualdez. As stated in the 2023 Philippine Media Ownership Monitor (produced by VERA Files and the Germany-based Global Media Registry), “The Inquirer Group of Companies belongs to the Rufino-Prieto family”; Ma. Alexandra ‘Sandy’ Prieto-Romualdez is the CEO of “Inquirer Holdings, Inc., the umbrella company of Inquirer’s media and other businesses.” Sandy Prieto-Romualdez is married to Benjamin Philip G. Romualdez, Martin Romualdez’s brother. The Monitor notes that Philip “chairs the newspaper, Manila Standard,” while Martin owns Philippine Media Collective Corporation, “operating radio stations in Tacloban,” as well as Prime Media Holdings Inc., which has a joint venture with ABS-CBN—the congressional broadcast franchise of which both Martin and his wife, Tingog Sinirangan Partylist representative Yedda Marie, voted not to renew back in 2020—to run/manage DZMM Radyo Patrol 630, which broadcasts throughout Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
Question once more: was there anything between PGMN and (some subset of) the Inquirer Group? It is not very clear how much influence Martin has over his sister-in-law’s media domain, but there has been at least one recent instance wherein the Inquirer’s main online face took down an article that was apparently unfavorable to Martin. As noted by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, in September 2023, Inquirer.net took down an article about Martin’s USD 1 million donation to Harvard University to fund a course on the Tagalog language. The Harvard Crimson later stated that the donation was actually USD 2 million (over PHP 110 million pesos, which, if in 1000-peso bills, can probably fill 5-6 small maletas). The takedown led to the resignation of long-time Inquirer U.S. bureau head Rene Ciria-Cruz.
Perhaps, as opposed to anything discussing Martin Romualdez’s wealth, the late 2024-early 2025 content of PGMN was deemed innocuous by people in charge of the Inquirer’s digital fronts. Based on a recent Philippine Daily Inquirer editorial, that certainly does not seem to be the case now. Titled “A propagandist, not a journalist,” the May 11, 2026 editorial states that “Mabanta’s [PGMN] has no business calling itself a news organization, and Mabanta is no journalist”; “PGMN, despite its name, has left no footprint in the media spaces where reporters congregate to report on wrongdoing in the government or elsewhere.” The piece states that it is “imperative that the public be more discerning, as the Philippines enters a volatile period in the lead-up to the 2028 elections.” Perhaps clarifying why it featured PGMN content dozens of times between November 2024 and May 2025 can help toward the development of a more discerning public?
Could the above be what awaits us in the next election season? Newly set up “independent” “news” organizations propping up or taking down candidates, seemingly “boosted” by legacy news organizations (that are owned by persons intimately connected to political dynasties), possibly “assisted” by generative AI? In such a landscape, which media organizations will remain trustworthy?
Miguel Paolo P. Reyes is a University Research Associate at the Third World Studies Center, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the Philippines Diliman, and a senior lecturer at the same university’s Department of English and Comparative Literature.
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.