A navy official on Tuesday slammed several parties for waging deceptive messaging against the Philippines.

“Information warfare is being waged against us. The battlefield is the cognitive domain or the minds of the Filipino people. Information warfare is designed to shape the perception of the Filipinos. This is also called malign influence,” Philippine Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea (WPS) Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad in a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo. 

Trinidad emphasized that Filipinos should be cautious about these deceptive messages, while the actions of some parties to distort the truth were obvious.

“While this is not covert or yung nakikita, not kinetic action, we have been very clear informing our countrymen, Complan mulat, and other pronouncements, that we should be very deliberate in receiving deceptive messages. Because again, this is all part and parcel of information warfare,” he said. 

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) earlier introduced its "Mulat" (awaken) Communication Plan for the WPS, which aims “to bolster transparency, counter disinformation, and enhance public awareness regarding the Philippines' rights and interests in the region.”

Trinidad also called “delusional” those parties claiming that Palawan was part of China’s territory.

“In an authoritarian state where social media and freedom of expression are regulated by government, everything is possible. Such statements about Palawan are baseless,” he said. 

“They are bereft of legal references. They are beyond common sense. In short, totally absurd. It will never happen that a part of the Philippines will be included in the sovereign territory of any other country,” he added. 

Trinidad slammed some parties for spreading misinformation, propaganda, and manipulative content designed to influence public perception about territorial claims.

“We are being attacked in the information domain,” he said.