News Roundup 08 June 2024
Jun 08, 2024 • 5 min Read
Chinese media pushes ‘Philippines as aggressor’ narrative before viral Marcos deepfake | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — Chinese state media have routinely portrayed the Philippines as a provocative and aggressive country in the West Philippine Sea following the private meeting between former President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping in July 2023, with most articles published right after an altercation between the two countries in the tense waterways.
Every month since August 2023, the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda apparatus has published news articles or editorials that claim the Philippines was “stirring up trouble” or “making provocations at sea,” typically hours or days after Chinese vessels block or attack much smaller Filipino boats.
Philstar.com’s monitoring over nine months found more than 60 such articles and/or statements from media outfits owned or associated with the Chinese government. Most statements are published by People’s Daily and The Global Times, newspapers controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.
While local media and influencers targeting Filipinos have not echoed this narrative on the same scale, there appeared to be a recent attempt to sow confusion among Filipinos over whether the Philippines was an aggressor. This was done through the recently viral “deepfake” audio of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. supposedly ordering the military to attack China — the origins of which remain unknown but is believed to have come from a foreign source.
Besides framing the Philippines as an instigator, Chinese social media influencers and anonymous accounts have also pounced on the Duterte-led Mindanao independence campaign in the Philippines to spread rumors of an all-out civil war in the country.
These articles have some of the markings of an influence operation that Philstar.com is tracking across all social media platforms, groups and spaces on the internet.
Marcos’ ‘strikingly different’ stance on West Philippine Sea
In July 2023, the Philippine government issued a statement commemorating the seventh anniversary of the 2016 Hague ruling that invalidated China’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea. The Department of Foreign Affairs called the ruling a “settled landmark” and a “shining beacon of internal law practice.”
China, which has never accepted the arbitral decision, said in a report by the Global Times that this was a “strikingly different” statement from the Philippines. Citing “experts,” the report said that the wording used by the Philippines showed the country was “growing tougher in its stance.”
Exactly a week after the publication of the statement, Duterte met with Xi behind closed doors, where Duterte reportedly expressed support for “friendlier” Philippines-China relations, according to a Global Times report.
Thus began the pattern. For almost a year, every time Chinese vessels block or attack a Philippine vessel in the West Philippine Sea, usually during resupply missions to the Ayungin Shoal, Chinese state media would quote Chinese officials who have concluded that Philippine vessels’ “aggressive actions” and “dangerous maneuvers” provoked Chinese vessels to respond.
Full Story at: Chinese media pushes ‘Philippines as aggressor’ narrative before viral Marcos deepfake | Philstar.com
‘Basta ipaalam’: China to allow Philippine access to Ayungin if informed ahead | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — Beijing officials will not hamper Filipino access to Ayungin Shoal — a feature situated within the West Philippine Sea — but only if they tell Chinese officials in advance.
Mao Ning, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, shared this to the international media last Friday after the China Coast Guard tried to stop the evacuation of a sick Filipino soldier from the BRP Sierra Madre last May 19, 2024.
“China’s position on the issue of Ren’ai Jiao is clear,” said Mao yesterday, referring to Ayungin Shoal’s Chinese name.
“If the Philippines notifies the Chinese side in advance, we can allow delivery of living necessities to the grounded warship or evacuation of personnel concerned.”
Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela earlier referred to the China Coast Guard’s action as “barbaric and inhumane,” stating that the latter rammed the inflatable boat carrying the Filipino solider on purpose.
Full Story at: ‘Basta ipaalam’: China to allow Philippine access to Ayungin if informed ahead | Philstar.com
Medialdea laughs off summons on Duterte | INQUIRER.NET – Former Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea simply laughed off a suggestion that former President Rodrigo Duterte be summoned to the House of Representatives’ probe of his deadly war on drugs.
Medialdea, who was executive secretary during Duterte’s entire term, claimed to the House committee on human rights that he had no knowledge of the former leader’s antidrugs campaign that claimed more than 6,000 lives officially acknowledged to have been lost in police operations.
Although only 54 of these cases were found to have been questionable, Medialdea—one of the country’s top lawyers upon his appointment as executive secretary—did not explain why only three deaths were successfully prosecuted in the Duterte administration’s six years in office.
In a press conference on Friday, ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro and Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel said that if the Duterte administration touts the “neutralization” of thousands of drug suspects as an accomplishment, then he and his officials should have no problem answering to the committee.
“Regardless of the existing references or memos or orders (about the implementation of the drug war) the real reference used by the Philippine National Police and other government agencies to implement ‘Oplan Tokhang’ was no less than [Duterte’s] own pronouncements that drugs must be eradicated in the country within six months,” Manuel said, referring to the knock-and-plead strategy used to identify drug suspects.
Full Story at: Medialdea laughs off summons on Duterte (inquirer.net)
HPG probes alleged escort-for-hire scheme of personnel | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police’s Highway Patrol Group (HPG) said that an investigation is underway following a viral social media post by a woman claiming her husband “hired” an HPG escort for her.
In a now-expired Instagram story, social media “influencer” Mary Joy Santiago shared a photo of an HPG officer, with a caption praising her significant other for “hiring” the HPG escort.
Full Story at: HPG probes alleged escort-for-hire scheme of personnel (inquirer.net)
