Lanao del Sur 1st district Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong (Facebook)

Lanao del Sur 1st district Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong didn't mince his words when he was asked about his opinion on Filipino vloggers who appear to favor China's side and twist details on the West Philippine (WPS) issue.

For him, these "traitors" of society ought to be dealt with through law and held accountable.

"It's so disturbing that there are Filipino vloggers who support the false narrative of China to claim ownership, portion of our seas. To me, it's not only betrayal, or pagiging traydor sa kanyang bansa (or being a traitor to your country), this is dismantling of our sovereignty one post at a time," Adiong said in a recent press conference.

“May mga batas naman tayo na naka in place (We have laws in place), [like the] Anti-Sedition Act. There are a lot of ways in order to make kababayan accountable for supporting a foreign claim which is diametrically opposed to our national interest…I’m sure ‘yung legal way on how to make them accountable, meron naman tayong mga batas na nandiyan (we have laws for that),” he said.

The House assistant majority leader made these remarks after the tri-committee's (tri-comm) third hearing on the spread of disinformation and fake news online. Several vloggers attended the hearing as resource persons.

It was learned during the hearing that certain Filipino vloggers or content creators have been parroting pro-China fake news on the WPS issue.

“So para sa akin (So for me), just to be candid about it, pagtataksil at hindi siya karapat dapat na tawaging Filipino (this is treachery and they don't deserve to be called Filipino). So it's really disturbing that some of our Filipino kababayan (countrymen) are even pursuing the narrative of China,” Adiong said.

The Mindanaoan said the pro-China vloggers ignore the fact that Filipinos--including hapless fishermen--have been on the receiving end of Beijing’s aggression and harassment in the WPS.

"You forget about national security, just be a Filipino. Kawawa ‘yung mga nangyayari sa ating mga fishermen dyan sa area ng [WPS] (I pity the fishermen for what's happening to them in the WPS)," he said.

Adiong says there is no problem if one is merely sharing his or her opinion on what is happening in the WPS.

“But if your opinion is diametrically opposed to our territorial claim over this, then that becomes an issue of national security concern,” he noted.

During the tri-comm hearing on Tuesday, April 8, officers of Meta, formerly Facebook, informed the panel that they had taken action on a post by blogger Mark Lopez that they found to be false.

The post claimed that the Philippines had used water cannons on China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels in the WPS.