Poe: Don’t use emergency alerts for election campaign text blasts

Sen. Grace Poe. Photo from Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau.

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Grace Poe on Monday called on both concerned government agencies and telecommunication firms to prevent the further exploitation of emergency alerts for political campaigning ahead of the 2025 national and local elections.

Poe made the pronouncement after reports of the Emergency Cell Broadcasting System (ECBS)—typically used for disasters—being misused to promote candidates in the upcoming elections through SMS blasts.

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“The incident does not only compromise the integrity of the emergency alert system, but may also pose threats to our safety and security as hackers may use this to broadcast fake news,” Poe said.

“Concerned government agencies and telecommunications firms must seriously address this vulnerability in the system infrastructure to prevent further exploitation by those with evil intentions,” she added.

Poe then also called on authorities to run after hackers misusing the ECBS and to also charge them.

She then told candidates to rein in their supporters to “campaign fairly and honestly” to keep the elections “clean and credible.”