OPINION | Foreign malign operations

April 25, 2025 , 05:27 PM

By Manny Mogato

(April 25, 2025) – The National Security Council (NSC) has sounded an alarm that could affect the Philippines’ midterm elections next month.

Jonathan Malaya, the NSC assistant director general, told a Senate inquiry that a foreign power might be interfering with local elections to help pro-China candidates win seats in the upper chamber of Congress.

Malaya has named China behind the sophisticated and well-funded foreign malign operations.

“There are indications that information operations are being conducted or that Chinese state-sponsored groups in the Philippines are interfering in the forthcoming elections,” Malaya told the Senate inquiry chaired by Sen. Francis Tolentino, a staunch anti-China lawmaker who pushed the passage of an archipelagic sea lanes law.

In the same public inquiry, Tolentino also showed a copy of a contract between a Makati-based marketing company and the Chinese embassy to spread information favorable to Beijing in the West Philippine Sea.

The agreement to hire keyboard warriors or “troll farms was signed by a Chinese embassy official, Wu Cheng, the media and public relations director.

The embassy also issued a 2023 Bank of China check amounting to P930,000 to Infinitus Marketing Solutions Inc., represented by Myka Poynton.

Tolentino said this was clear proof that China has been funding pro-Beijing trolls in the country, maligning anti-China lawmakers and promoting its interests.

The lawmaker and security officials said China’s foreign malign operations could undermine Philippine foreign and security policies and may impact the outcome of the midterm elections next month.

The marketing agency may get instructions from the embassy on what content it could post on social media.

Die-hard supporters of former president Rodrigo Duterte would amplify these pro-China messages and influence gullible and unsuspecting social media users, particularly on Facebook, X, or the former Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

Foreign malign operations have long existed across the world, trying to sway public opinion and undermining democratic institutions.

The United States (US) had singled out Russia as behind the malign and false information to influence its election results as far back as 2016 and 2020.

China has learned a lot from the Russians in conducting foreign malign operations in the US and its allies, including in Europe and Asia.

China’s disinformation and propaganda were not only state-sponsored, as shown by the embassy’s contract with a Makati PR agency. There were also private groups based in southern China promoting pro-Duterte narratives, especially after the former leader’s arrest and turnover to the International Criminal Court last month.

These foreign malign operations targeted Bongbong Marcos Jr. administration’s swift action to hand over Duterte to The Hague, arguing his rights were violated and the whole process was illegal.

The narratives also defended Duterte’s brutal and bloody war on drugs, justifying the thousands of people killed as necessary in the name of law and order.

As a result, an official at the Presidential Communications Office said the president’s trust and approval ratings declined by 17 percentage points, from 42% to 25%, based on a Pulse Asia Research, Inc.

Following Duterte’s dramatic arrest, his political allies surged in Pulse Asia’s March 2025 voter preference survey.

Sen. Bong Go zoomed to the top, dislodging perennial survey leader Rep. Erwin Tulfo.

Sen. Bato Dela Rosa also climbed to 3rd position in the same March 2025 Pulse Asia opinion polls.

Even actor Philip Salvador and Rep. Rodante Marcoleta inched higher, overtaking opposition candidates Bam Aquino, Kiko Pangilinan, and the president’s sister, Sen. Imee Marcos.

If the foreign malign operations succeed in influencing the elections’ results and help pro-Duterte candidates win in the Senate race, it could save Duterte’s daughter, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte-Carpio, from conviction in an impeachment trial.

Duterte-Carpio is the beneficiary of foreign malign information. She could even win in the 2028 presidential elections.

That would be a disaster for the Marcos administration.

With only three weeks before the midterm elections, the NSC’s public exposure of the Chinese embassy’s troll farms may have come too late to stop the propaganda and disinformation.

Legacy media was not remiss in exposing China’s troll farms in swaying public opinion about the West Philippine Sea and Duterte.

The Philippines needed strong legislation to address foreign malign operations, not just focusing on disinformation from pro-Duterte vloggers and social media influencers.

Lobbying in the halls of Congress is a legal and accepted practice. Tobacco companies lobbied hard when lawmakers discussed banning cigarette smoking and increasing tax rates for sin products.

Political lobbying is new in the Philippine context, especially when a third country is involved.

A new legislative act is needed to codify lobbying and set clearer guidelines on what is allowed and illegal under the proposed legislation.

The House of Representatives has been mulling over regulating social media to counter false information and disinformation.

It could also start discussing how to stop and counter foreign malign information operations.

The views expressed by the columnist do not necessarily reflect that of the media organization.

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