Marcos-backed Alyansa alarmed by reported Chinese info ‘interference’ in 2025 elections

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Security officials earlier flagged supposed 'indications' of 'Chinese state-sponsored' operations related to the 2025 elections

MANILA, Philippines – The administration’s Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas said on Friday, April 25, it was “alarmed and concerned” by reports of “possible foreign interference” in the 2025 midterm elections. 

“Disclosures by the country’s top security officials on possible foreign interference in the upcoming elections are truly alarming and concerning,” Alyansa campaign manager Navotas Represetative Toby Tiangco said in a statement. 

During a Senate hearig on Thursday, April 24, National Security Council spokesperson Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said there were “indications” that show “Chinese state-sponsored” information operations trying to interfere with the May 12 elections. 

Both Malaya and National Intelligence Coordination Agency Deputy Director General Ace Acedillo had flagged that Beijing’s narratives were being spread on Philippine social media, including those that were “amplifying divisive political discourse in our country,” according to Acedillo. 

During the same hearing, Alyansa candidate reelectionist Senator Francis Tolentino also accused the Chinese embassy in Manila of hiring a Philippine marketing firm to spready pro-China propaganda. 

“The right of every Filipino to freely choose their leaders — without manipulation, pressure, or foreign influence — is non-negotiable. Any attempt to interfere in that process is a direct violation of our national integrity and must be condemned in the strongest terms,” said Tiangco. 

In a Palace briefing on Friday, press officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said that Malacañang was also concerned over these reports. 

“This is not just a political issue. It is a matter of national security. We urge the proper authorities to investigate these reports with urgency, hold accountable those responsible, and protect the sanctity of our elections,” said Tiangco. 

Philippine security and intelligence officials have long raised alarm over disinformation and interference operations in the country, including those that echo pro-Beijing messaging.

Manila has taken a stronger stance against China over its incursions in the West Philippine Sea, or waters that are part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone which Beijing claims as its own. This is in stark contrast to the Philippines’ ties with China and its stand on the West Philippine Sea under the administration of Rodrigo Duterte, the father of Marcos’ erstwhile ally Vice President Sara Duterte.

The 2025 polls have turned into a face-off between the powerful Marcos and Duterte clans, who were once bound by a shaky alliance in the 2022 presidential elections that ultimately unraveled in mid-2024, when the Vice President resigned as Marcos’ education chief.

Shortly before the national campaign period started, the Marcos-allied House of Representatives impeached the Vice President. Over a month later, former president Duterte was arrested in Manila and turned over to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he now faces charges of crimes against humanity over his bloody drug war.

Marcos has campaigned for his Alyansa slate by painting the 2025 polls as a choice between his administration and a “dark” past under former president Duterte. The former Davao mayor, prior to his arrest, had done the same.

Marcos has seen his public approval and trust numbers slip dramatically in March, while the voters’ preference ratings of his Alyansa candidates have been steadily decreasing — though not enough to ease out most of them in the probable winners’ circle in the Senate race.

The Vice President, meanwhile, recently saw her trust and approval numbers improve and her father’s Senate candidates have been seeing increases in their preference ratings ahead of the May 12 elections. – Rappler.com