While tension in the West Philippine Sea rises between China and the Philippines, a more silent conflict rages far from its waters. It takes place in an unseen battlefield — cyberspace.

Recently, the National Security Council (NSC) claimed China is interfering in the country’s upcoming elections.

NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya maintained that China’s state-supported entities are supporting local candidates, using “information operations,” as well as local proxies to promote Beijing’s message.

It is a move that raises alarms — not only against the integrity of the 2025 elections but against Philippine sovereignty itself. The battlefield has shifted. Land, sea, air — and now cyberspace.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has formally recognized cyberspace as the fourth domain of operations, a recognition echoed by militaries across the globe. Warfare today isn’t merely conducted by guns and ships anymore, but by narratives, compromised networks, and manipulated data.

“We are seeing news reports that are not from legitimate sources. People keep sharing and spreading them, proliferating fake news without verification,” said AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Padilla in a radio interview recently.

And while the streets may be calm, cyberspace has become chaotic — an invisible war zone where perception, trust, and truth are the primary targets.

The AFP’s concerns mirror the intensifying efforts of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which has cracked down on fake news peddlers across platforms like Facebook and TikTok.

Vloggers who distort facts for views, troll farms pushing foreign narratives, and cyberattacks on critical government systems — these are the new fronts where battles are being fought.

Beyond propaganda

Malaya reported that Chinese interference goes far beyond spreading propaganda. There are also active efforts to boost candidates favorable to Beijing, through cyber operations and troll farms, in an effort to influence public discourse online.

The National Intelligence Coordination Agency has recorded 79 instances of cyber operations against core Philippine agencies — those dealing in foreign affairs, defense and maritime policy — in only nine months.

Even private sector critical infrastructure, such as telecommunications and energy, has not been spared either. In a nutshell, these cyberattacks are systematic, strategic and reflect China’s grander ambitions for Asia — ambitions that have been aggressively countered by the Philippines since the 2016 arbitral award nullifying China’s expansive claims over much of the South China Sea.

The growing concern: foreign influence doesn’t always come with battleships. Sometimes, it comes with bots, trolls, and carefully planted disinformation.

These recent advances are a sharp reminder that sovereignty isn’t merely a matter of defending islands or Exclusive Economic Zones, but of protecting virtual spaces where citizens shape opinions, read news, and engage in politics.

The Philippines isn’t alone in this matter. Similar patterns of foreign interference have been seen in major countries like the United States, particularly during its 2016 elections. The techniques are the same — social media manipulation, cyberattacks, weaponized disinformation.

For a nation already facing pressure on its territorial waters, the defense of cyberspace is shaping up to be equally critical — because in this new era, the fight for sovereignty will be decided not just on land or at sea, but in the digital ether where wars are waged with information itself.