By Brandon De Luna

In the Philippines, where the political party system is notably weak or even negligible, the character and reputation of a candidate often overshadow the issues they advocate. Filipino politicians typically secure electoral victories based more on their personal appeal and resources than on their political platforms. Hence, it is not surprising that most electoral conflicts in the country focus on ruining an opponent’s reputation.

This is called paninira which is like character assassination (CA) but with a local twist: hitting right at the person’s honor and virtue. Paninira literally means “defamation; vandalism; destruction; or bad mouthing.” This post will examine paninira as an indigenous version of character assassination in the Philippines and cite examples of paninira in action to help understand the concept better.

Paninira is a form of character assassination that targets one’s honor and virtue. In the context of Sikolohiyang Pilipino (Filipino psychology), it can also be an attempt to deny a person of the constructed shared identity within a polity. Literature from Sikolohiyang Pilipino emphasizes the importance of kapwa (shared identity) grounded in multiple social interactions over a period of time. Thus, whenever someone conducts character assassination, it can be argued that it is also an attempt to dehumanize and disassociate the target from the community he or she belongs to.

For example, during the Duterte administration, former Senator Leila De Lima was targeted from the presidential pulpit due to her being a prominent critic of the administration’s drug war policy. The former president branded De Lima as a protector of the drug trade and a whore, because of her alleged affair with her former driver, Ronnie Dayan. In fact, allies of the former president used a congressional hearing to destroy De Lima’s reputation in front of the public, such as showing a clip of an alleged sex video between her and her alleged lover. Secondly, De Lima has become a victim of a networked social media campaign impugning her reputation, to the point that she was abhorred and defeated in her bid for reelection in 2022.

The case of the former Senator De Lima can be characterized as paninira in action. Agents from the administration successfully destroyed her honor and virtue by branding her as a drug protector and the “immoral woman.” In the Philippines, marriage is considered as a sacred act, and when a woman breaks this act, she is shunned mostly by society because of her lack of virtue. The connivance of the Malacanang, Congress, and partisan social media influencers led more Filipinos to perceive De Lima as the biggest protector of the drug trade, where she allegedly benefited by having a huge campaign budget during the last 2016 elections.

At present, De Lima has been acquitted in all charges against her. However, the repercussions of her incarceration and character assassination remain evident as she has been less aggressive against Duterte, even after he stepped down from his role. De Lima is gradually regaining the political spotlight and is banking on her acquittal as a basis of restoring her lost honor and virtue as she gears to run again under a partylist.

Some pundits claim that paninira also led the public to look at the former Vice President Leni Robredo as an immoral and uncooperative politician. Despite her transparent and accountable model of governance as vice president, it was alleged that her political opponents immediately started a character assassination campaign against her by calling her “lutang (absent-minded),” “bobo (foolish),” and weak. Robredo herself admitted that she should have addressed these issues early on, which contributed to her electoral loss against President Bongbong Marcos. This is due to the social stigma from most Filipinos perception of women as subservient or maternal, Robredo was seen as a hindrance to the country’s progress, especially due to her opposition to some major policies of the “disciplinarian father” of the nation, the President. Thus, she is not nakikisama (getting along with others). Pakikisama entails the importance of group harmony and unity to be socially accepted by peers.

Despite calls from prominent personalities against character assassination, it remains a persuasive political communication tool to convince the electorate to support or shun a political candidate.

In a country where politics is deeply rooted in personality, exploring paninira as a uniquely Filipino form of character assassination not only broadens our understanding of the deliberate degradation of an individual’s image but also reveals its deeper implications. This method not only aims to tarnish a person’s image but strategically isolates them from their communities, cutting off vital social and political ties. By studying this phenomenon, we try to uncover the complex layers of how personal reputations are weaponized in Philippine political arenas, highlighting a sophisticated and potentially devastating form of political warfare.

Brandon De Luna is a CARP Research Associate based in the Philippines.

---