Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel "Babe" Romualdez on Tuesday, August 22, warned against efforts to conduct smear campaigns against various personalities, including those in the diplomatic community, to sow division among people through the use of cyberspace and other avenues.
Romualdez said Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Enrique Manalo already ordered an investigation into such a concern amid various attempts to "make it look like there's a discord between our allies."
"Not only they're trying to divide and conquer, but at the same time trying to change the narrative of what's really happening really more to try to convince the public opinion against the United States and side with China," he said.
Regarding attempts to sow discord, Romualdez was particularly referring to the demonstration—an apparently staged one—that happened during Manalo's visit to Hanoi to call out Vietnam's supposed militarization in the South China Sea.
Although Vietnam is also a claimant in the South China Sea like the Philippines, Manila has had good relations with Hanoi. Meanwhile, the Philippines repeatedly called out China for its militarization and aggression in the contested water.
The Philippine diplomat also cited a certain "propaganda" that said he was being recalled by the DFA due to alleged bribery and corrupt practices.
"I was actually, well sort of like, warned by the intelligence community, not only in Washington, but here also in Manila that there is a plan to do some operation against personalities, including myself, for the successful visit of the President," Manalo said.
"Perhaps, but more importantly, this was because of the offshoot of the [new] EDCA [Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement] bases... that the President approved for use or for the access of the US Armed Forces," he added.
Manalo said "many of our institutions are severely compromised by the cyber situation that we're facing right now," and warned against the use of cyberspace and other ways to hack into systems as well as control or make up information.
Manila Bulletin was among the media outlets that received a message from a certain "Mario," who said a memorandum was already sent to Romualdez to return to the country.
"They're [the intelligence officials] looking into it. But this is just one of the many that they're [hackers] going to be doing. They can manipulate all sorts of, like I said, fake memos, not only fake news, but they can manipulate all of these things," Romualdez said in an interview with ANC.
"It's serious enough to support for us to really see that there is a concerted effort," he added.