As the Philippines reels from a deepening corruption scandal rattling its political elite, one of its brightest social media stars has found herself at the centre of a national reckoning over wealth, privilege and accountability.
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Filipino style icon and influencer Heart Evangelista has spent years dazzling international audiences. Her Instagram is a parade of haute couture and jewellery, and she is a regular at Paris Fashion Week.
But her conspicuous absence from this autumn’s event in France spoke volumes, as questions about her fortune and her senator husband’s corruption allegations dominated headlines at home.
“Honestly, I don’t think it’s the right time for anyone to, especially from our country, be going to Fashion Week because I think we need to be here,” the 40-year-old told her 16 million followers in a tearful live stream on September 23.
Evangelista had planned to attend a huge rally in Manila two days earlier protesting against flood-control corruption, she said, but online trolls had threatened to strip her “naked” if she turned up.
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“And so, for you questioning me why I’m not at the rally … do you think I don’t have a burning flame in my heart, that I feel I have a lump in my throat, that I have nothing to say?”