There are indicators that China is meddling in the upcoming May midterm elections in the Philippines by supporting pro-China candidates, the National Security Council (NSC) disclosed Thursday.
The information was disclosed by NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya when asked by Senator Francis Tolentino during the resumption of the Special Committee on Philippine Maritime and Admiralty Zones into the submersible drones found in Philippine waters.
“I have been meaning to ask this question. Were there indicators being observed suggesting foreign interference in the 2025 elections, particularly targeting candidates with strong pro-sovereignty and anti-China positions?” Tolentino asked.
“Have we seen anything like that? That they are targeting anti-China (candidates) and helping those who are pro-China?” he added.
Responding to the Senate panel chairperson’s queries, Malaya confirmed that the agency observed interference from a foreign state with regard to the upcoming elections next month, particularly China.
“There are indications that information operations are being conducted or that Chinese state-sponsored groups in the Philippines are actually interfering in the forthcoming elections,” he said.
Tolentino followed up with a question about whether the current operations of China in the country involved boosting candidates supporting pro-China narratives they would want to win.
Malaya, for his part, answered affirmatively.
‘Proxies’
Malaya also said that there are local third-party individuals working for China to amplify its self-vested narratives and cause further division in the Philippines.
“What we have observed is that there are many narratives, for example, from Beijing, that are being amplified by third-party individuals, who are their proxies,” he said.
He mentioned a pattern that these individuals are using whenever China issues a statement.
“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 are using,” he said.
Tolentino asked whether the NSC was able to identify the individuals serving as local proxies for China, which Malaya also answered in the affirmative.
Prior to this, National Intelligence Coordination Agency (NICA) Deputy Director General Ace Acedillio revealed that China is using “organs” to amplify “divisive political discourse in our country.”
‘Cyber threat, espionage’
Aside from interfering with the upcoming elections, Acedillio said that Chinese entities are also involved in cyber threats and espionage activities in the Philippines, which extend from government to private sectors.
He noted that particular government agencies targeted are executive branch departments handling diplomatic, defense, and maritime affairs.
“Agencies involved in South China Sea formulation. Military and law enforcement communication networks, and local government units in strategically significant locations,” he said.
For the private sectors, Acedillio said critical infrastructure operations, particularly in energy, telecommunications, and transportation, are targeted by Chinese entities.
Defense contractors and suppliers to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, research institutions working on maritime resources and territorial issues, and financial institutions with ties to government projects are also considered targets.
He also noted that individuals such as senior government officials with access to classified information, military officers in command positions, diplomats engaged in territorial negotiations, as well as researchers and academics specializing in geopolitical and security issues, are targeted.
Acedillio cited China’s 2015 White Paper and China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law as the two major strategic developments that could possibly undergird China’s espionage, surveillance, and related activities in the Philippines.
Under China's National Intelligence Law, he said Chinese citizens and organizations are required to assist their government’s intelligence operations.
Citing 7 April data from Google Threat Intelligence, Acedillio said the government and manufacturing sectors are the two most cyber-attacked sectors in the country by Chinese entities. It was followed by financial services, energy and utilities, and technology sectors.
From April 2024 to January 2025, the NICA recorded at least 79 incidents of cyber operations against Philippine government agencies, namely the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Information and Communications Technology, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Public Works and Highways, among others.