Senator Imee Marcos has filed a resolution to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, into the alleged anti-vaccine propaganda by the United States military during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Senate Resolution No. 1052, Marcos directed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to conduct the inquiry. She said that the reported anti-vax and misinformation campaigns “gravely threaten national security issues and public health.”
Marcos cited a Reuters report which detailed the US military's effort to discredit China's Sinovac vaccines as a response to Beijing's efforts to blame the United States for the pandemic. It also mentioned that the anti-vax effort by the US military was also designed to counter China's growing influence in the Philippines and other developing countries.
In the same article cited in the resolution, it was mentioned that the anti-vax campaign by the US military was conducted through fake internet accounts meant to impersonate Filipinos.
It added that Reuters identified at least 300 accounts on X (formerly Twitter), which were likely used for such anti-vax campaigns. These social accounts were all created in the summer of 2020 and centered on the slogan "#Chinaangvirus".
It was also reported in the same article that when Reuters asked X about the accounts, the social media company removed the same because they were determined to be a part of a "coordinated bot campaign".
The senator said that there is a need to verify if indeed the alleged campaigns were orchestrated by the U.S. military and, if in the affirmative, "determine the ramifications of the actions of the U.S. Military, any potential breach of international law by the [USA] and the possible legal recourse available to the Philippines.”