THE alleged move of Leni Robredo’s camp of editing the pictures of their sorties to make it appear that their rallies are teeming with people leaves a bad taste in the mouth, according to a local official of Southern Leyte.

In an interview, Southern Leyte Gov. Damian Mercado lamented Robredo’s alleged tampered photoshopped pictures of their sorties with a throng of supporters.

“Ito yung totoong picture… walang tao… tapos ito naman yung lumabas sa social media. Anong klase yan?” Mercado told reporters while showing the original picture of Leni’s March 30 sortie in Maasin.

The original photo showed less than a hundred people gathered in front of a make-shift stage where Robredo was speaking but a tampered version came out on Facebook showing thousands of rowdy and adoring supporters.

“I don’t know why they have to do this. It doesn’t speak well about how they are dealing with the people and their sincerity is now being questioned,” Mercado said.

The governor then showed another picture purportedly taken during Robredo’s March 15 rally in Cotabato City, which showed a handful of supporters converging in front of the stage in Koronadal.

“First, the people of Cotabato are supporting another candidate and definitely would not go out to support her. This deception is unacceptable. If she can do this in her campaigns then what can we expect from her if she is given the chance to lead the country,” Mercado said.

Last month, a photoshop artist came out and revealed that he was hired by Robredo’s camp to alter photos of their activities and make it appear that a lot of people have been attending their sorties and rallies.

In an interview, JR said he was hired as a photo editor by Robredo’s handlers in 2021 specifically to help in their propaganda but “he can no longer stomach the duplicity that they have been doing so he decided to come out and reveal everything.”

He said they started altering photos of their sorties to make it appear that throngs are in the activities until they shifted their focus on their other opponents’ sorties, especially BBM’s rallies, and made it appear it was theirs.

“Iyong rally po nila Marcos na unity ride yata ang tawag nila doon, grupo po namin iyon. Na-bashed po kami nang husto doon,” JR said, adding that initially they were worried because they knew that BBM’s camp have plenty of supporters who will recognize the event.

He admitted receiving P70,000 to P100,000 monthly salary and their network of operations is vast, covering Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The source revealed that they usually manipulate the pictures of vloggers, who mostly don’t know the rudiments of photography.

He said he often uses drone shots to make it appear that there are a lot of people in a particular area but he usually utilizes pink balloons and alters it to make the desired impression.

“Pakiramdam ko bukod sa ipapahamak kami sa mga ipinapagawa sa amin, parang pakiramdam ko ay ipapapatay ako ng mga dilawan kaya gusto ko nang kumalas sa kanila,” he said, adding that Robredo’s camp hired several photo editors who work on specific tasks.

“Compartmentalized po ang trabaho namin. Iyong iba magkakakilala kami, iyong iba hindi. Pero iyong mga lumalabas ngayon, alam namin sa isa’t isa kung gawa ng grupo namin kasi talagang hindi mo mahahalata ang pag-photoshop. Magaling kami sa ganyan,” JR added.