National Security Council (NSC) Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said it is now the National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) turn to investigate the alleged involvement of the Chinese Embassy in Manila in a disinformation campaign targeting the Philippine government and its officials.

This follows claims made by Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino during the Senate Special Committee on Maritime and Admiralty Zones’ public inquiry on Thursday.

According to Tolentino, China — through its embassy in Manila — allegedly financed a “troll farm” under a contract with a private company to discredit the Philippine government and anti-China Filipino personalities.

He cited a “service agreement” signed in August 2023 between the Chinese Embassy and InfinitUs Marketing Solutions Inc., which included the deployment of “keyboard warriors” as part of an “issue management project.”

"'Yung ipinahayag ni Senator Tolentino, vina-validate lang ‘yung sinabi ko kahapon na mayroon talagang indikasyon ng panghihimasok sa political discourse sa ating bansa (What Senator Tolentino revealed only validates what I said yesterday — that there are indeed signs of foreign interference in the country’s political discourse)," Malaya said in a radio interview.

Tolentino, who chairs the Senate panel, presented documents purportedly linking the Chinese Embassy to the covert online disinformation campaign, claiming the embassy tapped the services of the local marketing firm.

“Ang sunod na ano rito, imbestigahan ng NBI. It is now going to the role of NBI na tingnan ang InfinitUs i-validate ‘yung mga isinawalat ni Senator Tolentino kahapon (The next step now is for the NBI to investigate. It’s now the NBI’s role to look into InfinitUs and verify the claims revealed by Senator Tolentino yesterday),” Malaya added.

The senator said the so-called keyboard warriors were instructed to spread disinformation, attack government officials, and promote pro-China narratives using fake social media profiles.

He also revealed that monthly reports allegedly submitted by InfinitUs to the Chinese Embassy contained screenshots of troll posts, names of social media accounts, and performance metrics such as engagement and reach.

“The National Security Council will go where the evidence will point us (The National Security Council will go where the evidence will point us),” Malaya emphasized.