Palace to probe alleged Chinese interference in Philippine elections

The Palace is set to investigate the alleged Chinese interference in next month’s midterm elections, Palace press officer Claire Castro said on Friday. — File photo from RTVM/Facebook

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Friday sounded the alarm over the alleged Chinese interference in the upcoming 2025 midterm elections, committing to investigate and look for the truth behind the reports thoroughly.

Speaking to reporters in a press briefing, Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary and Palace press officer Claire Castro said reports on alleged Chinese interference in the country’s elections have reached President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s table.

“This is truly alarming, and we will intensify – also on the order of our administration – a thorough investigation so that we can find out the truth about this,” Castro said in Filipino.

Asked if the Palace has received additional information regarding the alleged interference, Castro answered in the negative.

She said an additional investigation is needed to thoroughly understand the reported incident.

“Right now, we have been told that it will be investigated first so that we can know what other details there are and what is involved in this type of incident. So we can ask for other details [because] we will talk to the National Security Council again,” she said.

“Because this happened yesterday and there was an investigation, it has already reached the president, so there really needs to be an immediate and deeper investigation,” she added.

On Thursday, National Security Council (NSC) Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya dropped a bombshell at the hearing of the Senate’s special panel on maritime and admiralty zones’, saying that China was dipping its toes in the Philippines’ midterm polls.

“There are indications that information operations are being conducted or that Chinese state-sponsored groups in the Philippines are actually interfering in the forthcoming elections,” said Malaya during the hearing.

Sen. Francis Tolentino, who was presiding over the hearing as panel chair, asked if China had ongoing operations to support candidates that they wanted to win and control candidates they did not prefer.

Still, Malaya answered in the affirmative.

“So does this mean that China has ongoing operations to support the candidates they want to win? That’s my direct question. And to oppose the candidates they don’t want to win?”

“Yes, there are indications of that,” Malaya answered.

“These kinds of events are not immediately understood by the people because they are so mixed up on social media that you don’t know which one is true,” Tolentino said.

“That’s correct,” Malaya responded.

But apart from this, the hearing held Thursday likewise bared the Chinese embassy in Manila’s alleged troll farm seeking to discredit the Philippine government and anti-China Filipino personalities.

READ: Tolentino bares evidence of China troll farm to discredit PH gov’t

It was Tolentino who exposed this alleged scheme, saying that China is paying “keyboard warriors” under a contract with a private company called Infinitus Marketing Solutions Inc.