National Security Council threatens charges over ‘fabricated’ memo on PH elections

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With just over a week before election day in the Philippines, two bogus memorandums — from the NSC and the Office of the President — are seeded to journalists and spread on social media 

MANILA, Philippines — The National Security Council (NSC) said Wednesday, April 30, that a supposed memorandum on a call between National Security Adviser Eduardo Año and his American counterpart, Mike Waltz, was “fake and a clear fabrication.”

Its spokesperson, Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya, said in a statement that the NSC would work with law enforcement, as well as the Department of Information and Communications Technology, “to identify the perpetrators of this disinformation campaign and bring them to justice.” 

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, in a separate statement on Wednesday, said another supposed internal memorandum making the rounds online — this one, about an internal survey and a planned change of leadership at the House — was also inauthentic. 

The two memorandums had been sent to journalists, including through the messaging application Viber, by supposed insiders. Copies of the reported memos have also made the rounds on social media. 

Both supposed memos touch on, albeit in different ways, the upcoming May 12 elections. 

The “fake” NSC memo claimed the US, through a call with Waltz on April 18, was keen on intervening in the Philippine elections.

“For the record, the US has not involved itself in the domestic affairs nor in political matters of the Philippines and we will never allow such to happen,” said Malaya. 

Malaya, still referring to the fabricated memorandum, said “no record” of it exists in the NSC and Office of the Executive Secretary’s files. The barcode attached to the memo making the rounds on social media, added Malaya, belongs to another authentic document and was “maliciously transferred to it.”  

Waltz and Año did speak on the phone, but it was on April 11. According to readout from the call released a day later, on April 12, the two officials “exchanged views on the regional security situation, particularly in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea, and future bilateral activities to further accelerate the progress in the alliance.” 

The supposed memorandum from Malacañang, meanwhile, detailed a supposed briefing from former Philippine ambassador to Israel Pedro “Junie” Laylo and key officials of the administration, including those who are involved in the Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas slate. 

The purported memo from Bersamin, which was also sent to Rappler by a previously unknown number, detailed a supposed plan to improve Marcos’ approval numbers and replace his cousin, House Speaker Martin Romualdez with Alyansa campaign manager and Navotas Representative Toby Tiangco. 

Tiangco’s wife is also family to the Romualdez clan. 

“Apparently the spurious memorandum is a blatant attempt to spread disinformation and to sow division in the ranks of the Administration candidates. It should be dismissed as the handiwork of malicious minds,” said Bersamin in a statement. – Rappler.com