MANILA, Philippines — The Stratbase ADR Institute warned that the Philippines was now facing a “coordinated and sustained” cyber offensive from China, shifting the arena of geopolitical tensions from the West Philippine Sea into the digital domain.
Speaking at a 2-day cybersecurity conference this week, Stratbase President Victor Andres Manhit said the country was engaged in an “unseen war” being fought through information dominance, psychological operations, and digital manipulation.
The “Navigating Digital Crossroads” forum, organized in partnership with the Embassy of Canada to the Philippines, gathered senior government officials and members of the diplomatic corps to tackle hybrid threats arising from geopolitical tensions.
Manhit said modern conflict was no longer determined by military hardware but by the ability to control narratives, shape public perception, and erode institutional trust.
He cited Beijing’s “three warfares” doctrine—composed of psychological, legal, and public opinion warfare—as a framework already reflected in operations that undermine Philippine sovereignty.
According to Manhit, the country has begun to see coordinated amplification of pro-China narratives and influence campaigns aimed at fracturing domestic consensus.
The think tank also warned that potential interference in the 2028 national elections may already be underway through the shaping of digital ecosystems and the conditioning of public sentiment online.
Data from a Stratbase-commissioned survey conducted by Pulse Asia showed that seven in 10 Filipinos expressed serious concern over misinformation, which analysts consider a major national vulnerability.
“What begins as ‘fake news’ rarely stays online,” Manhit said, noting that such content often migrates into community discourse, policy debates, and eventually national decision-making.
Department of Information and Communications Technology Secretary Henry Rhoel Aguda echoed the warning, saying that the country’s most exploitable weakness is not infrastructure but public trust.
Aguda called for faster incident response mechanisms, stronger interagency coordination, and a whole-of-society approach to cybersecurity awareness to safeguard national interests.
Manhit added that foreign interference tends to thrive in silence and fragmentation, stressing the need for strategic clarity and institutional cohesion to counter emerging digital threats.
