LENILEAKS has become a buzzword at the start of the new year.
Close to midnight of January 5, Sass Rogando Sasot, a popular Duterte supporter, on her Facebook page, lashed back at “the SOCMED (social media) team of the Office of the Vice President” for “propagating the tag that Duterte Supporters online are nothing but “trolls” and that BBM supporters are “a fake and paid army.”
A few minutes later, at 12:40 a.m. on January 6, Sass attached screenshots of a message from prominent US-based immigration lawyer Pete Silva to a yahoo group containing the OVP’s SOCMED Strategy, a portion of which read: “We would also like to request you and your communities to coordinate with us whenever a new campaign is launched for them (President Duterte and former Senator Bong Bong Marcos) and/or against her (VP Robredo).
“You are a very crucial ally in protecting the truth, democracy, and the real mandate of the people. Let us continue fighting the good fight.”
Subsequent posts on social media revealed that Silva sent the message to Fil-Am billionaire Loida Nicolas-Lewis.
On that evening of January 5, Sass immediately informed her Thinking Pinoy blogger friend about her discovery.
On January 6, Thinking Pinoy wrote:
“Last night, my friend Sass Sasot informed me about the existence of a “restricted” yahoo group called Global Filipino Diaspora Council (GFDC).
“The more prominent members include: 1. Billionaire Fil-Am lobbyist Loida Nicolas-Lewis; 2. Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) Chairman Imelda “Mely” Nicolas, Loida’s sister; 3. CFO Commissioner Jose Molano Jr.; 4. Inquirer US Bureau columnist Ted Laguatan; 5. ABS CBN Europe News Bureau correspondent Atty. Gene Alcantara; 6. Northern Europe civil society leader Filomenita Mongaya Hogsholm.”
While the GFDC’s privacy setting was ‘restricted,’ Thinking Pinoy believed that the group administrator forgot to make the conversations private, the reason why Sass was able to “stumble upon the group’s publicly viewable message board where CFO Imelda Nicolas happens to be the most active contributor.”
“I am pretty certain that no one in GFDC intended the messages to be publicly available, especially since several of these messages are damning not only for their group, but also to embattled Vice-president Leni Robredo and the Liberal Party of the Philippines,” Thinking Pinoy wrote. Thus, on January 6, the hashtag #LeniLeaks was born.
LeniLeaks is the discovery of alleged conversations between members of the yahoo group GFDC that is accused of conspiring to destroy the image not only of President Duterte but also of former Senator Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. through a grand propaganda plan. BEEN THERE DONE THAT/JOSEPHINE CODILLA
