MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – Entertainer-turned-political blogger Mocha Uson has emerged to be a social media phenomenon. The self-confessed supporter of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has media institutions like the Inquirer, GMA Television Network and Rappler all scratching their heads.

Uson’s blog has more Facebook user engagements than ABS-CBN, GMA, Inquirer and Rappler.  In fact, she has more followers than the Inquirer and Rappler combined!

The news media’s attempt to discredit Uson is getting the opposite desired effect.  She has become even more popular.

So, as they say, ” If you can’t lick ’em, join ’em!”

And that’s exactly what the Inquirer and GMA have done, interviewing Uson in the hope of gaining more readers and viewers.

Rappler, on the other hand, devoted a lot of staff time and space on its news blog to analyze the Uson phonomenon, even blaming Facebook’s algorithm for the fact that the the Maria Ressa-owned company is lagging way behind Uson in terms of followers and engagements.

As for ABS-CBN, its executives are reportedly in closed session today to chart their next move. They’re still scratching their heads.