The administration’s Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas senatorial slate called on authorities on Friday to launch a swift probe into the reports that China is possibly meddling with the forthcoming midterm polls by backing candidates who seemed supportive of Beijing.

The ruling coalition’s campaign manager, Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, pointed out that this alarming threat to national security warrants a prompt response from concerned authorities, as failure to do so has high chances of putting the 12 May election at high stakes.

“Disclosures by the country’s top security officials on possible foreign interference in the upcoming elections are truly alarming and concerning,” Tiangco lamented.

“We urge the proper authorities to investigate these reports with urgency, hold accountable those responsible, and protect the sanctity of our elections,” he added.

Tiangco sounded the alarm after National Security Council Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya, in a Senate hearing on Thursday, flagged a potential interference by a foreign state, most notably China, in the upcoming midterm elections.

Malaya claimed that the ongoing operations involved supporting pro-China candidates, or those political hopefuls who “amplify” Beijing’s self-serving narratives, fueling discord and division in the Philippines.

“When there are statements from Beijing, they are amplified by their local proxies in the Philippines. The scripts coming from Beijing are the same scripts they use,” Malaya told the hearing.

Aside from this, the Senate investigation disclosed that China is employing keyboard warriors or troll farms to further discredit the Philippines by spreading false information against the administration.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun was quick to deny the allegations, asserting that they have no business meddling in the Philippine elections.

Still, Tiangco underscored the urgent need to rigorously investigate the matter, contending that no outside foreign influence should be allowed to shape public perception around the 12 May elections.

“Our future must be determined by us alone. The right of every Filipino to freely choose their leaders — without manipulation, pressure, or foreign influence — is non-negotiable,” Tiangco contended.

He lamented that any attempt to interfere with Filipinos’ rights to freely and independently elect their leaders not only poses a dire threat to the country but is clearly a breach of national security.

Further, the 11-member administration ticket Alyansa stressed that the issue further transcends politics and strikes at the core of Philippine sovereignty.

“This is not just a political issue. It is a matter of national security,” Tiangco said.

Administration lawmakers in the House of Representatives had implied that some senatorial candidates may have been financed by China, citing their continued silence involving crucial issues pertaining to the West Philippine Sea.

The Philippine Coast Guard told a recent House hearing that vloggers and social media influencers have also had a hand in a “coordinated and malicious” online campaign that aims to discredit the Philippines and defend China, involving issues in the WPS through disseminating disinformation.

The Philippines and China have been embroiled in a maritime confrontation over the hotly contested WPS. China asserts sovereignty in the entire South China Sea, which overlaps the WPS, despite a 2016 arbitral ruling that deemed its assertion baseless. The ruling affirmed the Philippines' 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone in the WPS.

Notwithstanding a pact to de-escalate their maritime tensions in July last year, China remains persistently aggressive in the contested waterway through the use of firing water cannons, military-grade laser pointing, and deployment of missiles against Philippine troops and vessels.