Former pro-Duterte vlogger is latest Marcos official

PALACE. Malacañang Palace riverside facade in 2013.

Presidential Museum and Library

The vlogger and political commentator behind 'Thinking Pinoy' is now an assistant secretary in Malacañang under Cabinet Secretary Benhur Abalos

AT A GLANCE

• Rey Joseph 'RJ' Pengson Nieto, known as 'Thinking Pinoy,' was appointed assistant secretary under the Office of the Cabinet Secretary in the Marcos administration on September 1, 2023.
• Nieto has faced legal issues, including a conviction for violating the Data Privacy Act related to doxxing.
• His exact role in the Cabinet Secretary's office is still undefined, and he has expressed a desire to apply his academic training in mathematics and public policy to his new position.

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MANILA, Philippines – Rey Joseph “RJ” Pengson Nieto, more popularly known for his online persona “Thinking Pinoy,” is the latest official in the Marcos administration. Nieto was appointed assistant secretary under the Office of the Cabinet Secretary.

He was appointed on September 1, but the appointment was made public and confirmed by Malacañang on Wednesday, September 16.

Nieto is best known in the public, perhaps, for being a staunch supporter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, whom the Marcos adminsitration sent to the Netherlands to face charges of crimes against humanity related to Duterte’s bloody drug war.

Although President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was once closely allied with the Dutertes — through 2022 running mate Vice President Sara Duterte, primarily — he did not have close ties with the former president himself. The older Duterte, in fact, had claimed the younger Marcos was a drug addict and latched on to the claim even when Marcos assumed office.

In a briefing with reporters, Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro sought to downplay the seeming irony of Nieto’s appointment, given his past affiliations.

“Even before sinabi po natin na ang Pangulo po ay hindi tumitingin sa kulay. Kung kayo po ay makikitang magiging asset sa gobyerno para mas maging maganda ang serbisyo ng isang ahensiya hindi po mag-aatubili ang Pangulo na kayo ay kunin provided na ang puso po ninyo kahit anong inyong kulay dapat ay sa taumbayan at sa bansa hindi sa isang tao o sa isang dati ninyong tinataguyod. So, dapat ang focus ay bansa at ang taumbayan,” said Castro.

(Even before, the President had said he pays no mind to affiliations. If a person is an asset to the government in order for an agency’s services to improve, the President does not hesitate to hire that person provided their heart, no matter their affiliation, is for the people and for the country and not for one person or advocacy. So the focus should be on the people and the country.)

Castro could not say the exact role of Nieto in the Office of the Cabinet Secretary, which is headed by former interior chief Benhur Abalos.  

Abalos’ role is to bridge an apparent gap between the Palace and the populace — at a time when Marcos’ approval and trust ratings are low, and with just less than two years left in the administration.

Nieto’s appointment does not come as a total surprise. When the Marcos-Duterte alliance, Nieto as associated, too, with Malacañang and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos. After former senator Antonio Trillanes IV sued Nieto for cyberlibel, Araneta-Marcos’ law firm had apparently taken on his case pro-bono. The latter was revealed only recently, when Marcos was in power.

In 2023, a Makati court found Nieto guilty of violating the Data Privacy Act of 2012 for doxxing Jover Laurio, who was, upon the publication of a 2017 post, running the blog Pinoy Ako Blog anonymously.

Nieto once ran the popular Thinking Pinoy page, where he would regularly go live and provide commentary on top political events. His political commentary stopped when he started pursuing an undergraduate degree at the University of Bristol in 2023. The Thinking Pinoy Youtube page appears to have been scrubbed off of previous videos.

In a post on Facebook, Nieto said his exact role under Abalos has yet to be defined formally.

“I spent the past years studying mathematics in the University of Bristol. That training taught me to look carefully at evidence, systems and complex problems. Sana magamit ko iyon sa trabaho (I hope to use that in this job). At the same time, I know that government is not a classroom. Marami pa rin akong kailangang matutunan (I have much to learn). This is also why I am doing a part-time MSc in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Public Policy at UCL, pang-alalay sa trabaho (to aid me in this job),” he said.

Abalos has yet to respond to our inquiries on the role Nieto will play in his office. – Rappler.com