By: Vanne Elaine P. Terrazola
Self-proclaimed bloggers have identified the personalities allegedly behind the “Silent No More” blog which claimed that the seven majority senators refused to sign the controversial resolution condemning the spate of killings of minors in the government’s war against drugs.
Rey Joseph “RJ” Nieto, the owner and administrator of blog site “Thinking Pinoy,” said a certain Edward Angelo “Cocoy” Dayao was the anonymous blogger who attacked senators who were not able to sign the Senate Resolution 516.
During the first hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media on the spread of “fake news” yesterday, Nieto said he was able to “uncover” the blogger’s identity when he, along a fellow blogger, looked into the advertisements in the Silent No More blog.
He said the ads led to Dayao’s account, which, he later learned, also maintains websites MadamClaudiaAko.com, ProPinoy.net, and other blogs critical of the current administration.
Dayao, he insinuated, was a “former member” of the Presidential Communications Operations Office during the term of former President Benigno S. Aquino III.
Facebook “blogger” Mark Lopez also mentioned the names of former presidential spokespersons Edwin Lacierda and Abigail Valte and former Undersecretary Manuel Quezon III, who likewise appeared in the hearing.
The ex-Palace officials categorically denied the claims and belied hiring Dayao in the PCOO.
Liberal Party Senators Bam Aquino and Francis Pangilinan were also implicated when Nieto said Dayao “co-founded” the websites with one Niña Terol.
