Dole on the lookout for election campaign ‘trolls’

The government is keeping a close watch on the proliferation of online trolls ahead of the midterm elections—a phenomenon said to provide more job opportunities despite its perceived adverse influence on public opinion, officials said on Monday.

Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said the agency was aware of the high demand for online trolls as lucrative job offers during the election campaign season. He noted as well that the executive department did not have the mandate to regulate such disinformation activities.

“Any development in the labor market and the labor force in particular will always be a concern… While it may be said that the number, as of this time, remains small, that will grow over time,” he said at a press briefing in Malacañang.

“Perhaps the Dole (Department of Labor and Employment) would resort to regulation if such activities become actually disastrous or hazardous to workers,” he said.

Laguesma made these remarks in response to concerns by lawmakers about online trolls.

“Part of our work in the department is to monitor and see how we can work within the framework of, first, the executive branch. And if legislation is needed, it would be coursed through the Ledac (Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council),” he said.

Temporary jobs

In a Viber message to the Inquirer, the labor chief said election activities helped improve the country’s job market.

Economic data has shown election spending to be a boost to the economy, with the addition of temporary work such as office staff at campaign headquarters, organizers of rallies, distributors of campaign materials, and drivers and other utility personnel.

But according to Laguesma, the Dole does not have a record of these types of jobs generated by election activities.

“But, usually, based on previous experiences, these involve temporary jobs to advance the chances of a candidate to [win],” he said.

The department also does not have official data on the impact of online trolls on the country’s workforce and how much they are paid.

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Low unemployment

Before their news briefing, Laguesma and Socioeconomic Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon briefed President Marcos about the country’s unemployment rate.

Edillon said it remained at a low 3.1 percent as in last year, adding that this labor trend is the lowest recorded since 2005.

“This means that if we have a thousand individuals in the labor force, there are roughly 31 [people] who are unemployed or have no source of livelihood,” she said.

Underemployment had a slight drop to 10.9 percent from 11.9 last year, she said.

As for online jobs including election trolls, Laguesma said: “Based on our consultations and discussions with Neda (National Economic and Development Authority), those online jobs have emerged and all we have to do is to closely monitor [them to] ensure that these do not cause harm to our workers.”