Speakers at the National West Philippine Sea Summit warned that foreign information manipulation and influence operations have become one of the country’s most pressing national security threats, as lawmakers and security experts called for stronger legal measures to counter disinformation linked to the West Philippine Sea.
During a panel discussion during the National West Philippine Summit, Professor Ranjit Singh Rye described malign influence operations as a greater immediate threat than maritime confrontations.
“Our clear and present danger is not just the gray tactics we see hard metal hitting each other in the way of ships in the West Philippine Sea. Our clear and present danger now is really the malign influence, the misinformation,” Rye said.
He pointed to survey data showing a decline in Filipinos’ distrust of China over the past two years.
“A significant drop over two years could also be a product of the influence of these information manipulation, disinformation. It’s a real challenge and I think for us in civil society and the academe, this is the clear and present danger and we have to contribute to it,” he said.
Former Sen. Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV argued that Beijing’s influence campaign seeks to weaken domestic consensus on defending Philippine sovereignty.
“But I think one elephant in the room that we’re not discussing or factoring in is the influence operations of Beijing consciously to bring down that national consensus level or to break apart or prevent our country from having that national consensus,” Trillanes said.
“There is an ongoing influence operation by Beijing and that’s the reason why there is this seeming messy environment as far as public policy is concerned. They have infiltrated the media, civil society, even legislators and some even within several organs of government,” he added.
Trillanes also linked the findings presented during the summit to political developments.
“I think I’m going to say this bluntly and in fact it was reinforced by Dr. Ranjit that if you see the decline, it’s coming from Mindanao, which is reflective of the position of their principals, right? The Dutertes are pro-China. Why? Because they are compromised,” he said.
Former presidential adviser Ronald Llamas said influence operations continue despite growing awareness of their funding sources.
“Even if we discover the flow of funds from China, which is huge for this influence malign operation, can we prevent that? Can we arrest them? On what charges? No,” Llamas said.
He warned that information operations are designed to divide Filipinos.
“And there will be deliberate campaign to turn Filipinos against one another,” he said.
Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio urged Congress to consider legislation similar to the United States’ Foreign Agents Registration Act.
“In the US, they have the Foreign Agent Registration Law. So, if you are writing in favor of China and you’re being paid for it, you should register yourself as an agent,” Carpio said.
“Now, if you don’t register yourself, the intelligence community can probably find a way that you have actually been paid for that and you can be sued for that already for violation because you are being paid for what you have written in favor of China,” he added.
Carpio also alleged the existence of coordinated online influence campaigns.
“That’s why you have trolls, troll farms from China making these people appear that they are Filipinos. They use crazy names like ‘Gagu,’ so you know exactly that they are not Filipinos,” he said.
Rep. Emigdio Tanjuatco III said Congress is already considering measures aimed at countering foreign information interference and espionage.
“Right now under the Committee on National Defense there is the Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Act, and under my committee—I chair the Committee on Revision of Laws—we have the amendment of the provisions on espionage,” Tanjuatco said.
“There are pending bills that are addressing the mechanisms or machinations of China regarding false fake news, false information,” he added.
Atty. Ed Chico of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) said traditional broadcasters already follow professional standards but social media remains largely unchecked.
“The problem is, I can speak on behalf of the KBP broadcaster, we do have our own broadcast code. We never allow fake news, but the fact that it’s largely unregulated would allow a proliferation of information which should not actually be encouraged,” Chico said.
He added that politicizing the West Philippine Sea issue further complicates public understanding.
“The fact remains that because interest groups keep on politicizing the issue… the mere fact that for the most part in social media, they try to reduce the issue as part of a mere political propaganda definitely exacerbates the failure of Filipinos to basically pull together the resources to do something about the issue,” Chico said.
