Angelle De Leon
Transwoman Sass Rogando Sasot, a well-known pro-Duterte blogger, has quit political blogging.
She recently announced her retirement from political blogging via a Facebook post.
In her Facebook post last December 16, Sasot clarified that the posts she made this month on her Facebook personal blog titled “For the Motherland-Sass Rogando Sasot” after three months of silence were only in support of President Rodrigo Duterte’s “quixotic battle” against water concessionaires Maynilad and Manila Water.
She said this does not mean she would resume doing political blogging.
She cited “disappointment, security, and setting her priorities straight” as her reasons to stop political blogging.
“My decision to stop is a product of several things: disappointment, security, and setting my priorities straight,” Sasot noted.
“The trigger was certainly the flood of transphobic online assault I received when I stood up for my trans sister who was handcuffed for FB-Live-ing her ordeal as she was prevented to use the female restroom in a mall, as well as my very vocal advocacy for the passage of the 2-decade old anti-discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression bill,” she added.
Sasot said the assault “was so vicious that even my friends who have criticized publicly expressed their concern about my safety.”
She noted that her friends warned her about publicly commenting on some politicians, saying it could backfire on her.
In particular, she said her friends warned her about the camp of “Yellows,” referring to the Liberal Party, who “are a particularly vicious kind” that allegedly released her exact address at The Hague.
She said her friends also alerted her about “the Parojinogs of Ozamis, responsible for supplying crystal meth in Southern Philippines, as this clan is very vindictive.”
“The issue about my security kept propping up from people concerned about me (even some of my friends who are anti-Duterte were concerned),” Sasot noted.
“Truth be told, the Parojinogs will one day be back in power if the political party (*cough* Liberal Party *cough*) comes back to power – crystal meth trade is a very lucrative business and a known source of campaign funds. This is not the only security issue that bothers me. Challenging US (United States) interests in the Philippines will always be a perilous task,” she added.
Meanwhile, Sasot further noted that her advocacy for the passage of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression Equality Bill or SOGIE Equality Act also resulted in being attacked by another pro-Duterte blogger, Mocha Uson, and her team.
“This issue also made me lock horns with Mocha Uson, who reneged her promise to me that she would support the anti-discrimination bill,” she narrated.
“Instead, her team was undermining the campaign, even propagating FAKE information about it. I know the back story why she did that but won’t divulge it in public out of concern for the safety of the very reliable person who told me,” she added.
Sasot also wrote that one of the factors she’s resigning as a pro-admin political blogger was that she decided to give up her citizenship as a Filipino to become a European citizen.
“I‘ve reached the point in my life, a point a lot of transgender Filipinos in the diaspora face: remain a Filipino citizen and remain your sex assignment at birth in your identity documents or change your citizenship so you could fully live your life,” she said.
“Living here in Europe gave me the opportunity to live fully my life, and will be able to fully do it once I become a full European citizen. I thought giving up my citizenship would be an easy choice, but it took me about over 8 years to decide,” she added.
As the “For the Motherland-Sass Rogando Sasot” blog closes, Sasot thanked President Duterte “for standing up for LGBTI Filipinos even if it isn’t a popular thing to do.”
She also thanked the “people of Davao City,” the “readers,” and another pro-Duterte blogger, “Thinking Pinoy” RJ Nieto, for encouraging her to open a blog.
“Thank you for the support and for making it possible that a trans woman reached this level of influence in the political discourse in our country. I never thought that I would be this person,” Sasot said.
“In these crazy three years of political blogging I’ve learned who my true friends are. They are the ones who make sure they hear from me before making any judgment, and certainly didn’t believe right away what they’ve read or heard that misrepresented, slanted, and downright twisted anything about me. Thank you guys, you know who you are!” she added.
