HOUSE of Representatives prosecution panel adviser and spokesman Ace Barbers warned Friday that foreign malign influence operations could use the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte to divide Filipinos.
Barbers cited an Armed Forces of the Philippines report that foreign influence operations are increasingly utilizing domestic controversies, including Duterte’s impeachment, the flood control scam and the Sanjia Steel police raid.
“The danger is that a real issue can be hijacked by false narratives. The impeachment is a constitutional process, but if foreign actors are manipulating information surrounding it, Filipinos must be smart enough to distinguish legitimate criticism from deliberately manufactured propaganda,” Barbers said.
He said the strategy, which researchers have linked to the so-called “spamouflage” model, involves creating fake personas, producing or recycling content, coordinating accounts and repeatedly amplifying narratives across platforms until the activity appears organic.
Barbers said one documented China-linked operation targeting Philippine audiences involved 155 accounts with roughly 130,000 followers and millions of interactions, based on information from Meta and other open-source research.
He said these networks can present themselves as ordinary social media users by posting political opinions, commenting on news reports, attacking critics of China or boosting personalities favorable to Beijing.
“The objective may not be to convince every Filipino to support China. It may simply be to make Filipinos distrust one another, distrust their institutions and lose sight of the facts. If they can turn Filipinos against Filipinos, they have already achieved something,” Barbers said.
Barbers said lawmakers supporting the impeachment have also been targeted by misinformation and online attacks.
“The impeachment trial should therefore be judged on evidence and constitutional accountability — not on the loudest social media narrative,” Barbers said.
“Let the evidence speak. Let the impeachment court decide. And let us not allow foreign malign influence, fake news or manufactured outrage to determine what Filipinos should believe about a constitutional proceeding,” he added.
