Photo edited by: Micaiah Frances Javier

Lights, Camera, Action—A line that we usually hear in show business and filmmaking. In this industry, actors desperately compete to get their much-desired “screen time,” show their potential, and eventually get to the top. However, in the Philippines, this is not just a line used in a set of a film but also in politics. Try doing a Google search on senatorial candidate Camille Villar’s name. How many articles about her have been written by Inquirer.net and the Manila Bulletin? In an incrementally eroding democracy like the Philippines, the media becomes the mise-en-scène where traditional politicians and political dynasties take control of where the camera focuses its lenses. 

With the media’s crucial role in democracy as a mediator between candidates and voters, it must maintain its impartial and neutral nature. Only facts should be presented and all candidates must have their equal share of “screen time.” However, that is not the case with the Philippines now as the 2025 senatorial elections approaches. Thus, if media outlets during this time are not impartial, are the ideas being fed to voters still considered their own? 

What is ‘Fragility’ in this context?

Media’s fragility can be framed into two perspectives in this context. First, fragility can exist in the media during elections due to political pressures, disinformation, and censorship. In this case, external factors directly attack content in the media, and it has almost no control over it. The other perspective entails that the media can become fragile in the sense that it may compromise its integrity and impartiality through the information it selectively disseminates. The media then becomes complicit in the selective dissemination of information along with other external factors. According to a survey conducted by Publicus Asia in 2024, 66% of the respondents chose television as one of their main sources of information, 67% chose the Internet such as news websites, and 62% chose social media, specifically Facebook. Thus, if the media becomes fragile in this sense during a time when the Filipinos need it more, then the credibility of the information they publish becomes questionable. 

The Case of the Villars’ Political Dynasty

Today, three members of the Villar family hold positions in the government. Cynthia Villar and her son, Mark Villar, are currently in the Senate. Camille Villar, the youngest in the family, has been the House Representative for Las Pinas since 2019. In this year’s elections, Camille will run for senator, replacing her mother in the Senate as her term ends this year. 

Currently, Camille Villar tops the charts as the #1 advertisement spender in the Senate race. From November 2024 to January 2025, she spent P1.25 million on Facebook ads targeted to voters in Western Visayas alone. Along with her ironic tagline, “Bagong Boses, Bagong Bukas (New Voice, New Tomorrow),” the Villars have shelled out a lot just to be in the spotlight. The light has gotten even brighter with the number of articles that Inquirer.net and Manila Bulletin, both respectable news outlets, have been publishing about them. Estimating the number of articles they published since February 2025, there have been more than 20 articles written about Camille and Mark Villar. To name a few of the headlines, “Camille Villar Vows to Champion Women’s Rights in the Senate,” “Camille Villar to Help Filipinos Attain Dream Homes and Sustainable Livelihood,” and many more. What’s even more alarming here is that the writers of these “news articles” use extremely optimistic words to describe what these siblings vow to do. Most of these are still promises that only time will tell if they will be fulfilled or broken.

Photo taken from Inquirer.net

The articles published by Inquirer.net and Manila Bulletin about the Villars usually follow a similar pattern: there is a ‘problem’ to be addressed or a marginalized sector that needs more ‘attention,’ and the Villars want to ‘address’ it. For instance, the article, “Camille Villar Vows to Champion Women’s Rights in the Senate” talks about how the social services of Filipino women need to be improved. Here comes Camille Villar who wants to ‘champion’ this advocacy in the Senate. The author then enumerates all the House Bills that Villar introduced. The article ends with a statement from Villar that this will be one of her priority programs if she gets elected and that she will be the voice of Filipino women. The same structure can be found in her other articles about boosting modernization in agriculture, giving more attention to senior citizens, and many more. In these articles, they try to take control of the camera and make sure that the lens only focuses on them. Not only that, they make the mise-en-scène seem perfect, and ensure that the lighting looks even better when shined upon them. Both the quantity and quality of the articles are manipulated in some way to be in favor of the candidate. In this way, the news outlets become a part of their campaign as they share their platforms and pose them as “news” to the public.

It might seem ‘too obvious’ to some, but to the ordinary Filipino who tunes into these news outlets to seek information, especially those who belong to the groups the Villars aim to champion, this will paint the dynasty a very positive image—one that is attained in an unethical manner. Repetition of their names on the “news,” together with over-optimistic rhetoric would translate into votes. In the latest OCTA senatorial survey published last March 16, Camille Villar is among the top 12 senatorial candidates today.

Implications for Philippine Democracy

In her article, ‘On Democratic Backsliding,’ Nancy Bermeo argues that despite the decline of traditional varieties of democratic backsliding, it has evolved over the years. It has changed its face to become more sophisticated, making it harder to identify and counteract. These new acts of democratic backsliding are more subtle and often hide under the guise of democratic legitimacy. Along with the new varieties of democratic backsliding that Nancy Bermeo has identified, I believe that another one emerges today—strategic manipulation of the media. As we can see from the Villars’ case, this unethical aim of the spotlight on a single entity is another element that contributes to the incremental erosion of democracy in the Philippines. Media fragility undermines the transparency that we expect from a functioning democracy as there is a lack of a level-playing field in the media in terms of exposure of the candidates to build an image. Thus, the more fragile the media outlets are, the more fragile democracy is during elections. As it is a well-known fact that the Villars are among the richest individuals in the country, we can also say that the more wealth a candidate has, the more refined their image will be to the public. 

This is a challenge for the media to remain impartial and neutral, especially during a time in which all Filipinos need them the most. Political advertisements published in supposedly ‘credible’ newspaper websites should be distinct from news articles to not blur the lines between actual news and advertising. Because at the end of the day, no matter how focused the camera lens is on a subject, its filter can eventually come off and reveal the truth underneath.