Of the many absurdities that I have found myself enduring since all headspace and energy were taken over by the May 9 2022 vote, it is this particular space called Marcos propaganda that has been most instructive.

Its instructions for followers are basic: simplify the campaign, do not speak down to voters, keep our candidate in his safe space, get rabid propagandists to balance out the simplified campaign and simpleton candidate, while giving both the campaign and candidate deniability for the trash the rest of the propaganda strategy spews.

But what might be more instructive is what it teaches us about ourselves, who are on this side of the battle for democracy, rights, and justice.

For example, it is clear that the Marcoses did an assessment of the discursive landscape, and found that we would be so cloistered in our own (online) spaces, and that our echo chambers would get even smaller as elections near, that it would make it hard for us to even talk about reaching a larger voter base without revealing too much about the class crisis and our role in it. They also knew that given who our candidate would be, bound as she is to the Liberal Party (no matter the change in color), that ultimately we would have trouble dealing with the elitism that will inevitably surface—this is after all at the heart of the divide that’s been fueled by Duterte propaganda the past six years.

Which is really where we’re at right now. It is silly to dismiss survey numbers, just like it’s silly to dismiss rally numbers. The latter does not contradict the former—both are snapshots of a particular predisposition, given a certain set variables. We question the surveys for asking wrong questions, or “choosing” specific people to be surveyed; but we can also wonder about the kind of support we see in the rallies and see if this is expected or not given bailiwicks and past electoral outcomes.

Here’s the thing with echo chambers: it gives us what we want to see, and keeps us from asking questions. The algorithm provides us with a snapshot of who we are, and what view of the world we want. You want pink? You got pink. You want red, here’s all the red you need. In this space we fashion what is our “ideal” space. It might be farthest from reality.

And this is what’s important to remember about the 2022 elections compared to 2016. The polarization is not at all like anything we have seen. Unlike in 2016 when we were all pretty much still navigating the same electoral-discursive spaces on social media and on ground, in 2022 this couldn’t be farthest from the truth. Where in 2016 we saw Duterte still going through the motions of doing debates and media interviews, in 2022 Marcos is depending on anti-media outlets like SMNI and the propaganda team of Duterte to be his platform for the same. Where in 2016 we were still doing battle in the same spaces on Facebook—aghast and stunned as we were by the tone and tenor and violence of the rhetoric of the Duterte side—in 2022, those common spaces are gone. And it’s not just because the spaces have expanded to YouTube and Tiktok, it’s also because the algorithms have been used so well by the Duterte-Marcos side that they have actually created a universe that is separate from us. Worse: we are fashioned by this universe as enemy so engagement is close to impossible.

Of course to some extent, even if maybe not deliberately, we are in a separate universe, too. The silos at this point are so far apart that unless we make the effort, we actually have no idea what’s happening outside of where we are, beyond the feeds we see, the news and media we still value. Thinking that we can ignore that other side and the universe it has created would be a big mistake: even VP Leni has admitted that it was a mistake to have let them go on and on the past six years with malicious insinuations and troll behavior. And the 2022 electoral landscape is proof of it. VP Leni, and all of us on the side of democracy, are suffering the consequences of having let them do this propaganda the past six years; and in 2022, we are easily dismissed as everything from delawan to terorista, elitista to komonesta.

To some extent, the past four months of the campaign has revealed that not targeting that same audience, not speaking in that same language, and not at least trying to engage with those undecideds who are stuck on that algorithm, might be a major misstep. Because if there is indeed 30% of voters who can still be swung in favor of the democracy side, then we should all be so interested not just in going out of our echo chambers, but going into very specific targeted spaces where conversion is still possible. By ignoring it, or dismissing it, or thinking that someone else is taking care of it, what we are ultimately doing is denying a universe that exists alongside ours. Worse, it is the universe that is getting the numbers it needs, and that has the funds necessary to keep its numbers where it is, straight to May 9.

It is the vote on that universe that threaten us with a Marcos win. It might be happening on a universe we do not see; but it is a universe that is strong enough, moneyed enough, and large enough—along with an existing loyalist command vote—that will impose on our universe where rights and freedom, democracy and justice still matter, an escalation of all the terrible things we have watched unfold the past six years. 

And if we are so unlucky, unlike the past six years, we won’t have a vice president whom we can depend on when the rest of governance subsists on its own propaganda, exists only for its target audience, and works only for its own self-interest. 

The war has been one of propaganda. It was made clear to us all after the 2019 elections. But no one was interested in battling it out, and those who kind of thought of doing it, sought to do so without getting off their high horse. The attitude that allows anyone to say: “we don’t do that” while looking down on the content of the other side—that is what’s spelling the difference between our numbers and theirs. 

As Imelda said: perception is everything. And we have yet to take part in this game of perception. If we are swinging 30% in this direction, we shouldn’t just be living to tell the truth, we should be selling it. We only have 63 days to go. ***