Sentiment Analysis of Pura Luka Vega’s Controversial Drag Performance
This study focuses on the sentiment analysis of social media users following the “Ama Namin” (Our Father) incident involving the drag artist Pura Luka Vega. Capstone-Intel Corporation conducted an online backtracking of the issue on June 21 to July 21, 2023 to determine the sentiments of audiences regarding the content, which sparked conversation in the Catholic-majority country. Capstone-Intel is a high-impact research company that uses innovative research technologies, tools, and methods to convert data and information to breakthrough insights and actionable intelligence outputs. It is committed to helping its clients solve problems, find solutions, grow markets and constituencies, build reputations, navigate risks, manage crises, and be the country’s leading private research and intelligence agency. Background of the issue Earlier in July 2023, a video of Amadeus Fernando Pagente, a queer artist popularly known as “Pura Luka Vega” in the drag industry, made rounds on social media after his drag performance became viral. The video, which has become a hot topic across various social media platforms, had received flak over what seemed to be “disrespectful” and blasphemous content of the drag artist after he used “Ama Namin” as the anthem of his performance. During the performance, attendees were seen singing along to Pura’s “Ama Namin” remix. Pura, who happened to be wearing a Jesus-like costume and cosmetics, hyped the drag act even more as audiences screamed in joy. Following the incident, several groups and individuals expressed their concerns, both positive and negative, about Pura’s performance. At the same time, lawmakers, particularly Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, stated that they might face criminal charges for the performance. Pura later apologized to anyone offended by the performance but emphasized that this would not mark the end of their artistic and faith expression. As a result of unfavorable circumstances, Vice Mayor Michael Galang of Floridablanca recently disseminated a resolution from the Office of the Sangguniang Bayan that denounces the “sacrilegious deeds” of a drag queen directed towards the Christian religion. In light of this, Pura, a municipality within the province of Pampanga, was deemed “persona non-grata.” Such a decision was also reached by the governing body of General Santos City. Methodology Capstone-Intel utilized all publicly available data across all social media platforms from June 21 to July 21, news, and websites in order to gather relevant information involving the subject matter. The report suggests that Pura Luka Vega’s content is distributed throughout several social media channels. The most significant market share currently belongs to Facebook at 29.3 percent, followed by videos at 23.8 percent, and news content at 19.7 percent. Twitter and TikTok each provide a large portion, specifically 17.8 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, a lesser fraction of the content was shared on blogs (2.0 percent), news (19.7 percent), and videos (23.8 percent). Reaction analysis On the other hand, Capstone-Intel also sought the users’ reaction towards the issue through reaction analysis. The result showed that 36.9 percent or roughly 217,986 users have expressed their disapproval or vexation to the “Ama Namin” drag performance. This only shows that the Catholic-majority nation remains guarded and sensitive about their faith – which negated the drag artist’s contemporary expression of faith. At the same time, about 149,382 or 25.3 percent of the total reactions were neutral about the issue while 143,363 or 24.2 percent of the reactions were positive. Sentiment Analysis A sentiment data report from Capstone-Intel showed that Pura’s “Ama Namin” drag performance received significant scrutiny online. Of the data gathered across all social media platforms, 78.8 percent found the act to be “negative,” while the remaining 21.2 percent turned out to be “positive.” Most of the negative sentiments came from various news outlets, mainly INQUIRER.net who shared the most percentage of negative sentiments at 44.7, Rappler at 18.3 percent and the Philippine STAR at 4.2 percent. In terms of positive sentiments, blogs and vlogging platforms like TikTok (75.2 percent), YouTube (9.9 percent), and Twitter (4.3 percent) shared the most number of positive sentiments regarding the controversy. The unfavorable sentiments that surrounded the contentious drag performance imply that there may be possible issues in Pura Luka Vega’s reputation, particularly on the platforms that were highlighted, which contributed to the poor perception as a whole. “Ostiya Review” Controversy Prior to the “Ama Namin” controversy, netizens were quick to dig deep into the artist’s content about “Ostya review,” a sacramental bread eaten by the Catholic faithful during communion. The review was posted in April 2023 but garnered traction anew amid Pura’s “Ama Namin” performance. According to Capstone-Intel, the audience’s sentiment on the review earned a 100 percent negative sentiment among social media users. Topic Interactions and sentiment to Pura Luka Vega controversy On the other hand, Capstone-Intel’s topic analysis also covered insight into various topics related to Pura Luka Vega and their share of voice, interactions, and sentiment. Entertainment News The result showed that “Entertainment News” (which includes all features related to Pura) garnered the level of interaction from the audience with 20.1 percent of interaction share in the issue. The sentiment distribution for “Entertainment News” is predominantly neutral at 77.40 percent share, with a majority of people expressing neutral views about the subject. In comparison, 19.40 percent is positive, and only 3.20 percent is negative. Meanwhile, the share of voice, or the number of mentions, posts, and interactions, stood at 7 percent. Drag Jesus Controversy Another data revealed that “Drag Jesus Controversy” became the second-highest topic of discussion linked to Pura as it recorded a 10.5 percent share of voice, but it can be seen that the interaction share recorded a lower percentage score at 2.7 percent. The “Drag Jesus Controversy” topic elicits significantly more negative feelings 19.60 percent) than positive sentiments 4.30 percent, with the majority of people having neutral opinions on the matter recording a 76.10 percent share. Negative Reactions This category contains responses that are negative to Pura Luka Vega. Although these responses have a significant share of the overall voice, audience engagement with them
Reaction to the 2023 State of the Nation Address: on the GDP Growth Rate
By Dr. Guido David In President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos’ State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 24, 2023, he asserted (to enthusiastic applause) that: “While the global prospects were bleak, our economy posted a 7.6% growth in 2022 – our highest growth rate in 46 years. For the first quarter of this year, our growth has registered at 6.4%. It remains within our target of 6% to 7% for 2023. We are still considered to be among the fastest-growing economies in the Asian region and in the world. It is a testament to our strong macroeconomic fundamentals.” Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) published May 11, 2023 do show a 1st Quarter 2023 growth rate in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 6.4% (i.e. compared to 1st Quarter of 2022). Historical data showed that the country had positive growth rates up until the fourth quarter of 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic caused an economic downturn with negative GDP growth rates from the 1st Quarter of 2020 until the 1st Quarter of 2021. The country started to recover by the 2nd Quarter of 2021, with each quarter posting a growth rate above 7% up until the last quarter of 2022. It should be noted that the GDP growth rates shown in the chart below (c/o PSA) is based on 2018 constant prices, i.e. the GDP used is the real GDP or inflation corrected GDP. When using GDP based on current prices, the 2023 1st quarter growth rate was higher at 13.7%. The president also noted that the GDP growth rate is within the government’s target of between 6 and 7%. Calculating the growth rates of GDP is very useful in terms of trends and forecasts. One might ask if the current GDP has already surpassed pre-pandemic levels. The table below shows the Philippines annual real GDP, based on 2018 prices as published by the PSA. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the real GDP to decrease in 2020, from PHP 19.37 Trillion down to PHP 17.54 Trillion. While the GDP started to recover in 2021, at PHP 18.54 Trillion it was still below the 2019 level. However, by 2022, the annual GDP had increased to PHP 19.94 Trillion, the highest GDP in the Philippines to date, and higher than the 2019 figure by 3%. In other words, the economy has already recovered from the effects of the pandemic and is now on pace for new highs. At current prices, the 2022 GDP is equivalent to PHP 22.02 Trillion. The 2022 GDP can be broken down as follows: 8.9% from Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing, 29.7% from Industry, and 61.4% from Services. Comparing real GDP from 2021 to 2022, the Services sector had the biggest increase of 9.2%, while Industry increased by 6.5%. On the other hand, Agriculture had only a 0.5% increase. Within the Services sector, Accommodation and Food Services Activities had the largest increase at 32% compared to 2022, as restaurants and hotels recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. This was followed by Other Services with a 28% increase, and Transportation and Storage with a 24% increase. Within the Industry Sector, Construction increased by 12%. President Marcos also mentioned that “In 2022, the digital economy contributed 2 Trillion Pesos, the equivalent of 9.4% of our GDP.” This was also based on data released by the PSA on April 25, 2023. In its bulletin, PSA showed that the digital economy, composed of digital transactions covering Digital-enabling infrastructure, Ecommerce, and Digital media/content, grew by 11% from PHP 1.87 Trillion in 2021. The digital economy employed 6.05 million people in 2022. In summary, President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos statement about the economy during the 2023 SONA or State of the Nation Address was purely based on fact. If he had more time, the President, could have highlighted that the Philippine economy is the best it has ever been, has recovered completely from the negative effects of the pandemic, and is projected by the World Bank to exceed PHP 24 Trillion in 2023. If the country continues to reach these targets, the State of the Nation would continue to be sound, at least with respect to the Philippine economy. Dr. Guido David is the Chief Data Scientist of Capstone-Intel Corporation. Capstone-Intel is a high-impact research company that uses innovative research technologies, tools, and methods to convert data and information into breakthrough insights and actionable intelligence outputs. It is committed to helping its clients solve problems, find solutions, grow markets and constituencies, build reputations, navigate risks, manage crises, and be the country’s leading private research and intelligence agency.
