MANILA, Philippines – Radio commentator Anthony Taberna made waves in early October after falsely claiming Senator Risa Hontiveros inserted some P3 billion into the 2025 budget.

While this can be disproven, Taberna’s commentary on his shows served as fodder to try and discredit Hontiveros among certain social media circles.

At the same time, it also brought out supporters debunking Taberna’s claims, with backlash against Taberna exposing his own alleged connections to the flood control project controversies, in addition to calling him a spreader of fake news..

How did Anthony Taberna’s commentary against Hontiveros spur social media sentiment? How did it come to bite him back?

What happened?

On October 2, Anthony Taberna claimed during his show Dos Por Dos that Hontiveros had over P3 billion in insertions to the 2025 budget, including some P750 million for flood control projects. 

The claims were well-timed, considering how many mishandled flood control projects were being brought to light. Hontiveros is also known as a fierce anti-corruption advocate.

On October 3, Hontiveros denied making those insertions, especially as it related to unprogrammed funds. In her statement, she said she also didn’t ratify the Bicameral Conference Committee Report on the 2025 General Appropriations Bill and voted no to the 2025 budget.

Hontiveros and then-senate minority leader Koko Pimentel are seen on video on December 11, 2024, as having voted against ratifying the Bicameral Conference Committee Report on the 2025 General Appropriations Bill (also known as House Bill 10800).

In an explanation of her No vote released on December 16, 2024, Hontiveros wrote, “I voted ‘Yes’ to the Senate version of the 2025 national budget because I was confident that this budget would provide sufficient funding for our most critical and life-saving programs. However, the bicam version of the national budget is deeply concerning because it drastically reduces funding for essential sectors like public health and education.”

Taberna, in a Facebook reel on October 4, said budget insertions are legal unless proven to be tied to corruption, such as kickbacks. He eventually walked back his statements taking Hontiveros to task, but the commentary he earlier released had already turned into propaganda attacking the senator.

Attacking Risa

The Nerve analyzed public posts on Facebook regarding the controversy to see what was commonly being discussed about Taberna’s assertions at the time.

The scan showed some accounts attacking Hontiveros for those supposed budget insertions by amplifying reposts of Taberna’s content. In some cases, posts calling Hontiveros a thief, or magnanakaw, were done by personal accounts of digital creators.

Another page, Peanut Gallery Media Network (PGMN), also did its own recap on October 3, as well as follow-up posts on October 4 and 5. PGMN calls itself a media agency with free speech absolutism as a selling point, and was previously known as the Firebrand Media Group, based on its page transparency details. It has over 481,000 followers.

The October 3 post tried to do another recap of Taberna’s commentary, and was posted despite Hontiveros' denial that came out at least 30 minutes before the recap.

On October 4, PGMN noted Hontiveros’ denial, but added that this should be checked, and that Taberna and DZRH, a station airing Dos por Dos, should apologize and issue an erratum if proven wrong.

On October 5, PGMN called its coverage of the issue “VERY FAIR,” saying that it even issued a statement saying DZRH and Dos por Dos should issue an erratum in case of a factual error, “for the sake of impartiality and operating honorably, even towards the woke Senator.” 

PGMN then went on to apologize to “media colleague” Taberna, whom the page said defended himself more than sufficiently in light of its statements regarding his commentary. In the post, PGMN also said the “ball of judgment is in the court of those defending Hontiveros,” asking people if they think she’s being intentionally misleading in her responses.

A post by a Facebook account called The Political Observer Philippines also appeared to be one of the first instances of a caricature of Risa Hontiveros being shared online, where her mouth is closed with a zipper. 

The post called Hontiveros a “selective voice of ‘Good Governance’” and tried to paint her as being silent on flood control and corruption issues. However, she has been recorded on video speaking out against corruption in flood control projects, specifically, and also called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr to undergo a lifestyle check while offering to undergo the same herself.

Hontiveros has since made her 2024 statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth public and called for full transparency and accountability for government officials.

'Selling fake news' and corruption allegations besides

We also did a second scan to see the discussions following Taberna's walking back of his statements. Social media had a field day biting back at him.

Actress and director Pinky Amador went to a store owned by Taberna, Ka Tunying, and took a quick video saying she wanted to buy "fake news" from them, warning people on her post to be wary of what their social media diet is and what they feast on online. That post as of October 20 garnered more than 6,600 comments and over 7,600 shares.

Other posts also came to light pointing out Anthony Taberna and his wife Rossel's alleged connection to anomalous flood projects.

Posts circulating online noted how Taberna was an endorser for Stronghold Insurance, which provided bonds to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) flood control projects of Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya II and Cezarah Rowena “Sarah” Cruz Discaya.

Rossel Taberna is reportedly the managing director of Outbox Media Powerhouse Corporation, the events manager of some flood control project inauguration ceremonies. Further, Senator Rodante Marcoleta’s wife Edna is an independent director and audit committee chair at Stronghold Insurance.

Support for Hontiveros

Meanwhile, support for Hontiveros was also present, though perhaps not on the same scale as the PGMN blitz. 

The Nerve spotted a digital creator by the name of Mel Panganiban who clamored on October 3 for Taberna to produce evidence supporting his assertions.

On October 6, the Facebook page of  Mark Rossimo, a writer with 12,000 followers, called Taberna’s commentary fake news. He also noted how Hontiveros had the lowest proposed amendment in the budget. Rossimo also noted reports linked Taberna to Stronghold Insurance in his post.

This post was amplified at least twice by Mel Panganiban, meanwhile. He reposted it on his personal account, and that same post was copied over and reposted on the Facebook page “SOLID,TRILLANES for SENATOR👍👍👍.“

The combined posts of Panganiban garnered some 200 shares and less than 50 comments, a far cry from PGMN’s combined share count of over 4,500, and thousands of comments to boot.

Why this matters

A simple discussion regarding a supposed bombshell revelation about things like the government budget is important to recognize, fact-check, and discern because there can be a hidden agenda involved in the telling.

For one, bombshell revelations like these can ignite Taberna’s fanbase, who are regularly tuned into his media streams. If monetized accordingly, a wider viewership can result in more money coming in and better metrics for his shows over a period of time. – Rappler.com

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This story was originally published on Rappler on October 20, 2025.

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