By Herman Tiu Laurel

 

After the Marcoleta-Tarriela “fake news” tussle where the congressman raised the “there is no such thing as West Philippine Sea” (WPS) furor and which the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) WPS-Task Force spokesman was placed on-the-spot unable to show any international map showing the Philippine claim, mainstream print and broadcast media, as well as hordes from troll farms that could only be afforded by government and U.S. funded operation erupted boosting Tarriela‘s side at least 20 to 1.

A week later I received a post in one of my Viber group chats, a photo of a red 25-years old red Toyota Corolla with a wooden A-frame red and yellow billboard blaring the message “China Fuck You!!!” reportedly driving around the streets of Manila. I will not be surprised if this is just one among many going around now. This is a classic instance of a cheap-for-hire propaganda operation which is reminiscent of the “Philippines, province of China” tarpaulins in 2018 campaign against the Duterte government for gaining so many projects from China.

This new anti-China propaganda campaign is clearly well-funded and coordinated, aimed at the PDP senatorial candidates identified with the Duterte political legacy of the “independent foreign policy” or alternatively non-American controlled political alternative in Philippine politics. The propaganda campaign against Duterte has been raging since Day 1 of the Duterte administration in 2016 and today Duterte’s national support hasn’t eroded significantly so it is doubtful this new round will have any more impact.

The impact of Marcoleta’s exposé of the empty claim of the West Philippine Sea is such that the entire troll army of the US-proxies and BBM government frantically scrounged around for maps not published in the Philippines that would show the WPS, none could be found. Until some enterprising operators of the anti-China propagandists thought of creating a WPS pin in Google Maps. I Googled “creating a location pin in Google maps” and this response appeared on my desktop screen:

“Step 1: Open Google Maps on your desktop browser and navigate to the location you want to mark. Step 2: Right-click on the location you want to mark on the map. Step 3: Select “Drop a pin” from the menu that appears. Step 4: The map will zoom in to your selected location, and a red pin will appear.” Further, to add a name, “How do I pin and name a location on Google Maps? Search for an address. Or drop a pin by tapping and holding a place on the map. At the bottom, tap the name of the place. Tap Label.”

When President Donald Trump declared his own “Gulf of America” to replace the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) official name for the “Gulf of Mexico” the Americans likely did the same as Trump’s name for the gulf subsequently appeared on Google Maps, but as CNN reported on February 17, 2025 “Mexico threatens to sue Google over name change of Gulf of Mexico on US maps. We haven’t heard the vociferous Trump belabor his demand for renaming the gulf anymore.

There must be thousands of US-proxies doing anti-China propaganda work directly or indirectly funded by USAID. The surge of anti-China propaganda spins off to the anti-Sara Duterte propaganda. Take Catholic nuns’ group Caritas Philippines call to the Senate to “Act swiftly on Sara Duterte impeachment, CBCP arm tells Senate.” Somebody juxtaposed a Caritas Int’l headline, “Caritas strongly condemns the reckless decision of the U.S. Administration (Trump) to abruptly close USAID funded programs and offices worldwide.”

Around three weeks ago was interviewed by SMNI where I explained and linked the surge of the anti-China disinformation campaign of the US and its Filipino proxies to the impeachment campaign and propaganda against VP Sara Duterte. It went viral and in just a few days it has over 700,000 views. I made the point there that the impeachment against Sara is actually a U.S. operation to prevent the return of the “independent foreign policy”. This question was raised to Senate president Chiz Escudero in a media interview in Sorsogon.

Escudero said in response that Mr. Laurel has to prove his theory first, which is not surprising from Filipino politicians – pretending not to see what is right in front of everybody’s nose. U.S. subversion in the Philippines is a tradition, hiding in plain sight – they are everywhere but nowhere. It’s the same thing about the 39th Anniversary of Edsa Uno, the late US Secretary of State George Schultz writes in his memoirs how they did the ouster of Marcos Sr. but countless thousands still can’t see it. ###

   

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