Former Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said Sunday that it is high time to amend the 1979 Foreign Agents Act to identify Filipinos working for China to spread pro-Beijing narratives, amid the increasingly tense dispute over the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

Carpio emphasized the need to revise the half-century-old law due to the alleged surge of organized groups allegedly being financed by China to downplay the maritime issue in the WPS and attack critics of Beijing, particularly government officials. 

Carpio explained that by amending the law, Filipinos who have business dealings with China would be required to register as a foreign agent accredited “to propagate [and] disseminate the view of China in the Philippines.” 

“Because if you’re a foreign agent, you’re working for China […] the whole country will know that you’re speaking for China, that you’re being paid,” the ex-SC justice asserted in Filipino in a radio interview.

“It should be updated so that these people will be compelled to register... If you don’t register, you will be subjected to penalty, imprisonment and fine,” he added. 

The stiffer penalties, he said, would deter China-funded trolls from disseminating narratives that favor Beijing, which have an alarming impact on shaping public opinion in the WPS, under the guise of “freedom of speech.”

In April 2025, then-Senator Francis Tolentino accused the Chinese Embassy in Manila of contracting a Makati-based PR firm, InfinitUs Marketing Solutions Inc., to serve as “keyboard warriors.”

The operation: To spread pro-China propaganda, spread disinformation to manipulate public opinion, and promote divisiveness among Filipinos on the issue of the WPS.

Tolentino alleged that the embassy hired the PR company to run a network of troll farms, and that InfinitUs received a P930,000 paycheck dated September 2023 as part of the suspected illicit contract.

InfinitUs vehemently denied having a deal with China, though it confirmed that the check was authentic and that there was nothing illegal about the transaction.

Aside from Carpio, Philippine legislators have also raised concerns about the alarming prevalence of pro-China trolls on the Internet, especially amid the ongoing verbal row between Chinese diplomats and lawmakers concerning Beijing’s continued aggression in the WPS. 

Senate President Tito Sotto III has proposed declaring Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Jing Quan persona non grata over the embassy’s continued release of combative statements targeting senators.

While Jing is amenable to leaving Manila if President Marcos Jr. tells him to do so, Carpio posits that this is not advisable. 

The embassy’s spokesperson, Ji Lingpeng, earlier said that only Marcos, as the head of state, has the authority to expel Jing of Manila. In that event, other Chinese diplomats in the Philippines, including him, would also leave, even if it led to the embassy’s closure.

The embassy, however, warned that their potential departure would not deter them from “push[ing] back slanders and smears against China through various channels.”