AFP backs crackdown on foreign influence campaigns

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Monday backed calls in the House of Representatives for government regulators to act against alleged foreign state-sponsored malign influence campaigns involving the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

AFP special spokesperson for the WPS Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad said foreign malign influence operations should be treated as a national security threat.

“The AFP acknowledges and fully supports the call of lawmakers, led by House Spokesperson Representative Robert Ace Barbers, urging regulatory authorities to take decisive action against foreign state-sponsored malign influence campaigns,” Trinidad said in a statement sent to DAILY TRIBUNE.

Trinidad said defending the WPS extends beyond Philippine waters and airspace into the digital information space.

“Foreign Malign Influence (FMI) operations — executed through coordinated online proxy accounts, deceptive media outlets, and psychological manipulation — are done to divide our nation, erode public trust in national security institutions, shape public perception and justify unlawful acts in our Exclusive Economic Zone,” he said.

The AFP vowed to continue working with Congress, government regulators and civil society to counter such activities.

The statement came as lawmakers urged the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and other agencies to act against online pages allegedly spreading Chinese propaganda and misinformation about the WPS.

Barbers singled out the Facebook page Media Unlocked, accusing it of twisting facts to promote narratives favorable to China.

“NTC should block these China misinformation pages the same way that government cracks down on porn sites. To follow or subscribe to these pages should be deemed unpatriotic,” Barbers said.

He urged authorities to determine what action could legally be taken against pages found to be spreading misinformation.

Barbers also proposed that government agencies produce video explainers directly rebutting disputed claims to help Filipinos distinguish misinformation from factual information.

“They should take it down or better yet before taking it down an explainer from our end will discuss frame by frame the misinformation they’re spreading,” he said.

Barbers cited a video claiming that a Philippine vessel had “intruded” into what it described as Chinese territorial waters around Huangyan Island, Beijing’s name for Bajo de Masinloc.

Bajo de Masinloc is located within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.