Fake Napoles Twitter account gains followers after surrender

MANILA, Philippines - A fake account of Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind in the P10-billion pork barrel scam, gained traction on social media site Twitter following her surrender to President Aquino on Wednesday night and her subsequent transfer to the Makati City Jail the next day.

The account, with handle @Janet_Napoles, has more than 500 followers as of yesterday afternoon.

Napoles supposedly has posted over 600 tweets since Aug. 16, or two days after a Makati City court issued an arrest warrant against her on charges of serious illegal detention.

In addition to her supposed experiences inside an air-conditioned room at the detention facility, the parody account also traded barbs with various celebrities tweeting about Napoles.

In one case, Napoles supposedly insisted that no VIP treatment was given to her despite having her own room at the Makati City Jail.

She was replying to a tweet posted by broadcaster Julius Babao, who sarcastically noted the supposed lack of VIP treatment though she had her own refrigerator and air conditioner.

The reply from the fake account prompted Babao to further tweet, “Sige na nga Janet Special Treatment na lang (Alright, you get Special Treatment).”

The account also posted various tweets, often hilarious, in reply to posts of other personalities such as those of broadcaster Karen Davila, reporter Niko Baua, and forensic pathologist Raquel Fortun.

In one post, Napoles supposedly tagged the official Twitter account of President Aquino, saying she is also requesting for a washing machine inside the detention facility.

A tweet also featured an edited mug shot of Napoles, with a greeting to lawyer Ferdinand Topacio replacing Napoles’ name and the case number of the charges filed against her.

Another photo showed Napoles in a Louis Vuitton wheelchair, apparently in reference to previous incidents involving high profile personalities who appeared in wheelchairs during trials.

In a tweet, the account admitted receiving a lot of curses from Twitter users. The post was in reply to a tweet calling other users to calm down since the account was only a parody of the real Napoles.

The fake account was among the various memes and hilarious posts about Napoles that have gone viral on the Internet.

Satirical website So What’s News, for instance, came up with a news article claiming that Napoles underwent surgery to look like Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

The humorous take of netizens on Napoles highlights the lighter side of Filipino Internet users who, since the issue broke several months ago, have actively participated in discussions about the pork barrel scam.

Last week, thousands of Filipinos joined a protest in Luneta to call for the abolition of the pork barrel system. The protest, dubbed as the Million People March, started as a post in social media site Facebook.

In the past, various parody accounts gained popularity among Filipino Internet users.

These include the Twitter accounts with handles @PCOSmachine and @I_amHolo, which received a lot of attention during the 2010 presidential elections.

At the time, the Commission on Elections had started using precinct count optical scan machines, while television networks introduced the “hologram effect” in their respective coverage.

Based on Twitter rules, “users are allowed to create parody, commentary, or fan accounts (including role-playing).”

“Twitter provides a platform for its users to share and receive a wide range of ideas and content, and we greatly value and respect our users’ expression. Because of these principles, we do not actively monitor users’ content and will not edit or remove user content, except in cases of violations of our Terms of Service,” read the guidelines of the social media site.

The rules on such accounts state that the username and name of the parody accounts should not list the exact name of the subject without distinguishing words such as “not, fake, or fan.”

The “bio” of the account should also have “a statement to distinguish it from the real identity,” while communication with other users should not deceive or mislead others.

The bio of handle @Janet_Napoles states: “UPPER HOUSE – LOWER HOUSE – 30 CARS – 28 HOUSES .. Oh Oh Yeah!”

Aside from the said account, at least a dozen other Twitter accounts used variations of the name of the alleged mastermind in the pork barrel scam.