Lawmaker accuses China of backing Senate bets
A PHILIPPINE lawmaker on Thursday alleged that China is backing certain senatorial candidates in this year’s midterm elections, pointing to those who have remained silent on the country’s sea dispute with Beijing.
“It is not far-fetched to think that China is supporting candidates opposing the administration in the Senate,” Zambales Rep. Jefferson F. Khonghun said in a statement in Filipino.
“If we recall, those candidates are also silent or siding with China on every issue concerning the West Philippine Sea,” he added, referring to parts of the South China Sea that fall within Manila’s exclusive economic zone.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately reply to a Viber message seeking comment.
The Philippines and China have been embroiled in a maritime row over competing claims on Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal, among other sea features in the South China Sea.
Philippine and Chinese forces have repeatedly sparred in the waterway as Beijing asserts sovereignty over almost the entire sea, seen as a vital global trade and security route that is also believed to be rich in undersea gas and oil deposits.
“What China is doing is not mere interference. It is a systematic campaign to make our leaders subservient while seizing our territory,” said Mr. Khonghun.
His accusation comes as over 69 million Filipinos prepare to elect a new set of congressmen, 12 of the 24-member Senate, and thousands of local officials on May 12, in an election viewed as a referendum on the Marcos administration.
The midterm polls will also take place amid a bitter feud between President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and the Dutertes, whose patriarch, former President Rodrigo R. Duterte, fostered closer ties with Beijing.
The Marcos-Duterte alliance publicly unraveled last year, entangling them in a political quarrel marked by escalating tit-for-tat exchanges over the dismantling of Mr. Duterte’s pro-China foreign policy and investigations into his signature anti-drug campaign.
Mr. Khonghun said Filipinos should shun not only “pro-China” candidates but also social media personalities echoing “Beijing’s agenda.”
The Philippine Coast Guard told a House of Representatives hearing on Tuesday that they had seen an uptick in disinformation campaigns disparaging the country’s South China Sea claim. It has compiled a report covering the past two years and came up with a framework of how disinformation against Manila’s claim spread. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio
