National Maritime Council (NMC) Spokesperson Alexander Lopez tagged social media posts claiming that Palawan was once part of China as a disinformation and part of China's "cognitive warfare."

This claim stemmed from posts on Chinese social media platforms Weibo and Rednote last week where some users claimed Palawan once belonged to China, and the Chinese government had governed it for 1,000 years.

Lopez said such claims must be debunked because these are being used "to shape the minds of people."

"Alam mo, part ito ng kanilang tinatawag na cognitive warfare (You know, this is part of their so-called cognitive warfare)," Lopez said in a televised interview on Thursday, March 6.

"They are trying to shape the minds of the people, internal audience, external audience, para iyong opinyon mag-shift sa kanila (so that the opinions shift towards them). Then iyong mga hindi nakakaalam, ‘oo nga no, tama yata iyon ah’ (those who are not aware would believe it), so we need to debunk these lies actually, these discourses," Lopez stressed.

Lopez pointed out that a foreign official's visit to Palawan, or any part of the country, does not lead to owning the territory.

"Granting bumisita siya sa Palawan (he visited Palawan), it does not make na Palawan is part of their territory already," he said.

"And it is very clear: Palawan has been, is and will always be part of the Philippine territory. I it has to be very clear, no debate doon (there)," he added.