There are those who believe that the Duterte style of gangland vendetta killings are back. If we consider how the anti-Duterte content creator Alicia Lipata, known in social media as Mima Alicia, was slain, perhaps there is a point:
At about 3 a.m. of July 17, two armed men waited for Lipata and her partner to arrive in their car outside their rented home at Tierra Nova, Barangay 171, Caloocan City.
As Lipata alighted from the car, the armed men immediately opened fire at her and her partner. The gunmen then fled riding tandem on a motorcycle. Lipata, 24, expired on the street. The partner was rushed to a nearby hospital.
The style is reminiscent. Duterte Death Squad killings in the past were made of such brazen boldness by even entering the private abode of the target. It had data on car registries and drivers’ licenses. Two men had seemingly anticipated Lipata’s car and registration number.
Police Chief Melencio Nartatez said the gunmen were killers for hire. But of course, General. All killers, even those in Davao City’s gangland under the Dutertes, were killers for hire paid for – in Davao City’s case – by City Hall government money using yellow pad improvised receipts. We already know that. With Rodrigo Duterte, police were even paid as killers, weren’t they, General?
If the Duterte-style angle is true, is it because these are part of Sara Duterte’s last hurrah before she gets convicted by the impeachment court? Her father may no longer be in power, but the family is awash in cash to punish their detractors. Not only that. There are proxies for the Dutertes – drug lords, Red China, political kingpins, with the wherewithal and machinery to kill on their behalf.
Consider how Lipata angered them and their proxies.
Her critiques against the Dutertes used skepticism and mockery. Her videos routinely questioned the Duterte camp and its policies, often targeting Sara Duterte. She had constantly mocked Rodrigo Duterte’s detention in the International Criminal Court.
Alicia also mocked Duterte supporters by calling their standee of the old man Duterte as “Ang Tatay mong Karton.” One commentator, obviously not a fan of hers and her politics, called her bastos na bungangera.
Using the handle Mima Alicia, her YouTube channel Alicia Comments was thus heavily critical of Sara Duterte and all Duterte allies. She was no doubt both staunch and outspoken. She was also a loyalist of the Marcos Jr. administration.
She was closely associated with the United Vloggers and Influencers of the Philippines (UVIP), a breakaway of the Duterte Diehard Supporters group of vloggers following the Marcos-Duterte split.
Alicia Comments had over 360,000 subscribers. Her Facebook presence carried a significantly higher engagement rate due to her viral short-form rants. Two close associates of hers known for their aggressive attack channels have livestreamed updates of her killing and her case. They are the Ilongga content creator Team Tartty and the Canada-based Alfred Marc Guzman. Both have aggressively countered Duterte channels and both have growing followings.
There is a constant that is always a factor to consider: the Dutertes are never tolerant of criticism. Davao City has very few Duterte critics, if at all. There are almost none from the media. A culture of silence pervades the city.
And that is why it becomes doubly necessary to have Duterte critics, especially those who appeal to the masa where Duterte miseducation is strongest. Brave critics like Mima Alicia, Team Tartty and Alfred Marc Guzman, plus Coach Jarret (Jarret Pulido), Bong Jenorvin, help counter the Duterte aversion to accountability. At the same time, they help educate their followers on how public office as a public trust should be.
Pebbles Talakera (Pebbles Cunanan) is another prominent and aggressive anti Duterte content creator. The Pebbles packaging is that of a high impact Marcos insider voice who supposedly leaks backroom political info from the Marcos camp. Previously, Pebbles was identified with figures from the Duterte camp.
Her Facebook footprint is high. Pebbles Talakera 6NA commands 97,000 likes to a high engagement rate of 460,000 “people talking about this.”
The Pebbles style is to drop “bombshell” revelations. With the Mima Alicia killing, Pebbles attempted a controversial angle, that it was the Iglesia ni Cristo who had a hand in silencing Mima Alicia. Would the INC fall under a Duterte proxy group?
Yes, it may. In 2015, expelled INC members claimed that the sect maintains a security group called SCAN International. There were those who say that it also operates as a death squad.
However, Pebbles offers no concrete evidence.
There is no doubt that as an anti Duterte vlogger, Alicia Lipata’s death may benefit the Dutertes. One less critique to destroy the Duterte name. But there is more.
Her death signifies that the Filipino is now bereft of values standards. Lipata’s death was celebrated by the pro-Duterte universe as though killing is now of universal decorum worthy of praise. Let me provide just a few samples of the lowest quality we have become.
“Karma is real.”
“You’re going to hell, you’re a traitor, you belong there.”
“Deserved.”
“Good job sa riding in tandem. Mga bayani kayo.”
We lament the killing of a vlogger, but we weep for the death of Filipino values that are the real killers of the Filipino.
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.