How Franco Mabanta Went from Commercial Model to Socio-Political Commentator to Alleged Extortionist

On Wednesday (May 6), news broke of an operation led by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation that resulted in the arrest of Franco Mabanta, self-described socio-political commentator and co-founder of popular online platform Peanut Gallery Media Network (PGMN).

The NBI said Mabanta was arrested after he allegedly tried to extort as much as P350 million from former House Speaker and presidential cousin Martin Romualdez. Mabanta reportedly claimed he had damning evidence against Romualdez in relation to the flood control scandal.

NBI agents arrested Mabanta after receiving P300 million in marked cash inside suitcases. Hours later, PGMN issued a statement denying that extortion happened.

“We are innocent,” the statement read. “This was a setup.”

Mabanta’s arrest is the latest chapter in the high-profile career of the former commercial model-turned-social media strategist and political commentator. Who exactly is Mabanta and how did he go from fresh-faced model and television personality to cunning strategist and controversial political firebrand?

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Mabanta first gained wide public attention when he starred as Jasper in a popular commercial for Coca-Cola and Globe in the early 2000s. At around the same time, he became a VJ for music channel Myx. He spent the rest of the decade in the public eye as a model, events host, and theater actor.

Mabanta became a fixture in Manila’s young social set in the late 2000s to early 2010s, often being spotted in the parties around town.

While we could not independently verify this claim, there are reports across various social media posts that Mabanta worked on or was affiliated with the camp of former Vice President Leni Robredo. What is certain and well-documented, though, is that he eventually became aligned with a group of social media personalities who were staunch supporters of former President Rodrigo Duterte, who won the election in 2016.

A personality interviewed by Esquire Philippines said Mabanta moved in the same circles and was part of the group that consisted of Trixie Cruz-Angeles, Thinking Pinoy (RJ Nieto), Mocha Uson, Sass Rogando Sasot, all of whom were closely aligned and vocal supporters of President Duterte and his administration.  

During this time, Mabanta cultivated a personality that was extremely combative and opinionated. He would regularly get into arguments online and launch tirades that crossed into the personal with certain personalities. Many of these posts have begun resurfacing after his arrest.

When Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. announced his candidacy for President, Mabanta became aligned with his camp and, in his own social media posts, described working for Marcos’ campaign as a social media strategist before and during the 2022 elections. Various social media posts from Mabanta himself seem to indicate that he worked behind the scenes as a “political operator” and “crisis manager” for other political personalities, with one post even celebrating how he “closed” a new client, a “smart and seasoned” powerhouse for the Senate,” back in 2021.

After the very public split between Marcos Jr. and his Vice President Sara Duterte, Mabanta firmly aligned himself with the Duterte bloc, according to the Esquire source, who was also part of the group. Soon after, Mabanta co-founded PGMN, a digital media platform whose intro page on Facebook describes itself as “The only Philippine media channel in pursuit of free speech absolutism. Conservative, Liberal, DDS, Loyalist or Pink, we gather the best and most viral voices—encouraging them to say whatever they want, however they want, with a promise to never censor.”

The platform quickly gained traction, with content heavily leaning toward political news and commentary. From its roots on social media, the platform has since expanded and now has a presence on YouTube and Tiktok and in its own dedicated website.  As of May 2026, PGMN counted nearly 700,000 followers on Facebook and nearly 300,000 subscribers on YouTube.

A witness Esquire Philippines talked to claims to have seen Mabanta in the lobby of The Peninsula Manila on Tuesday (May 5), a day before his arrest. Officials currently have Mabanta detained along with four other suspects.

Asked if President Marcos is acquainted with Mabanta, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro was quick to issue this statement: “Hindi po siya kaibigan ng Pangulo,” she told members of the media gathered in Cebu.

"Kung mayroon po siyang dapat na panagutan, kung mayroon po silang ginawang krimen dapat lamang po nila itong panagutan pero definitely kailangan po ng due process sa lahat ng bagay," Castro said, according to ABS-CBN News.

Castro also showed off a photo of Mabanta and former President Duterte together, telling the press that it might be more worthwhile to ask about the relationship of the two.

Meanwhile, in a lengthy statement on PGMN, Mabanta claimed that it had completed “an immense, comprehensive, painful research on the breathtaking national corruption of Martin Romualdez while he was Speaker of the House.”

Mabanta said the evidence they have is “devastating.”

“There was no extortion,” he said. “There were ZERO threats from us. That’s all bullshit. The “evidence” provided showed one side of the story. We committed NO CRIME: AND WE CAN PROVE IT.

Mabanta further claimed that the arrest was instigated by Romualdez to silence him and PGMN. He said he had been warned by “powerful close friends” that there is “legitimate concern for our physical safety in that any or all of us could be hurt or killed by hitmen.”

The political strategist said he left instructions to publish the 90-minute expose against Romualdez should anything happen to him.

No such video has been released at the time of the publishing of this story.