MANILA, Philippines - When netizens woke up to the news that alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles had surrendered to President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday night, they went to Twitter for more information and found that "At 9:37" is trending.
The "At 9:37" was the time that Napoles, escorted by Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda and her lawyer Lorna Kapunan, arrived in Malacañang on Wednesday night.
The trend started from the statement issued by Lacierda online, through the government's website, which was immediately retweeted by news institutions, including Philstar.com.
RT @govph At 9:37 p.m this evening, Janet Napoles surrendered to President Aquino: http://t.co/veuPsA3Emu …
— Philstar.com (@PhilstarNews) August 28, 2013
As the statement circulates in the social media space, Twitter users realized that ""At 9:37" was already trending.
At 9:37 is trending hahaha :)
— VhongNavarro♡ (@EuniceNavarrooo) August 29, 2013
Twitter users then started making own phrases with "At 9:37":
Wanna play hide and surrender at 9:37?
— ̶d̶̶a̶̶n̶̶i̶̶e̶̶l̶ (@Romualdo29) August 29, 2013
"If we have 'Hide and Clap' at 3:07" "We also have 'Hide and Surrender' at 9:37"
— Liam Payne (@primozayn) August 29, 2013
At 9:37 kumakain ako ng nilagang baka. Ano ba? :))
— A.I.D.S. (@eidhriyhanne_07) August 29, 2013
At 9:37 everyone should surrender x)))
— Meredith Magno (@mmheartsyou) August 29, 2013
"Camp Crame" also trended on Twitter, which was where President Aquino and Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas brought Napoles after her surrender.
Napoles' mug shots and fingerprints were taken at the Philippine National Police's national headquarters, where she spent the night.
Roxas had said that Napoles will be presented to the Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 150, which issued the warrant for her arrest based on the case of serious illegal detention filed against her by pork barrel scam whistleblower Benhur Luy.
Napoles' brother, Reynald "Jojo" Lim, was also ordered arrested for the same charge.
Roxas said at a press briefing after Napoles' booking at Camp Crame that Lim remains a fugitive.
The beleaguered businesswoman surrendered the same day that President Aquino announced a P10-million reward for her arrest.
Roxas has said there is a possibility that the government will use Napoles as a state witness in the pork barrel scam probe, but clarified that there was no such agreement between her and Malacañang in exchange for her surrender.
The interior secretary said that the P10 million reward on Napoles would be withdrawn because of her surrender.
Right after Napoles' arrest, questions were raised on Twitter on what would happen to the reward. Some netizens joked that Napoles or even President Aquino might claim the bounty.
Napoles said to have surrendered after Pnoy announcd P10M reward for her capture. Grabe-pati yon pinatulan?
— Ed Picson (@Edcaster) August 28, 2013
Haha. "@rodnepo: So does that mean P-Noy gets the 10M reward?"
— Karen Jimeno (@AttyKarenJimeno) August 28, 2013