HONOLULU, USA — As tensions between the Marcos administration and its one-time member, Vice President Sara Duterte, heightened, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) was waging its own battle against an influx of trolls on its official Facebook page.
“We are temporarily disabling features on our official Facebook page to deny trolls a platform for their suspicious activities. Troll farms are a menace to society and we choose not to empower inauthentic actors in their coordinated attempt to spread disinformation and malinformation,” AFP Public Affairs chief Colonel Xerxes Trinidad said in a statement on November 27.
The AFP had, for the most part, just been on the periphery of the Marcos-Duterte rift. That is, until former president Rodrigo Duterte egged on the military and police to “protect the Constitution” amid what he said was a “fractured” government.
Duterte, best known for his bloody drug war, stopped short of explicitly calling for a coup — a stark contrast, perhaps, from his daughter Vice President’s “conditional threat” against Marcos, the First Lady, and the House Speaker.
Speaking at the military’s leadership summit on November 26, AFP chief General Romeo Brawner Jr said that “military adventurism” is already a thing of the past. “‘Yung mga nakaraang military adventurism ay hindi na po pwede ngayon ano,” he said, a not-too-subtle reference to the military’s role in trying to — sometimes, successfully — deposing Philippine leaders, including the current father’s namesake, the dictator.
“May panawagan na mag-intervene ang Armed Forces of the Philippines sa nangyayari sa ating politika ngayon dito sa ating bayan. But hindi po natin trabaho yun. That is not our job. So, ang trabaho natin is to protect the Republic of the Philippines, protect its people, defend our territory, and defend our sovereignty and our sovereign rights,” Brawner said in the same speech. (There are calls for the AFP to intervene in political events. But that is not our job. Our job is to protect the Republic of the Philippines, protect its people, defend our territory, and defend our sovereignty and our sovereign rights.)
Days later, the military, without saying who and where those “troll farms” were from, shut down the comment section of its official Facebook page. As of posting, commenting is still limited on the page.
But the quiet part is still quite loud, is it not? Duterte and his camp, after all, have long ago hired and mobilized troll armies that perform “coordinated inauthentic behavior” to hijack and override discussions on social media.
Filipino Journalist Regine Cabato, in a post on LinkedIn, explained: “Comment sections are one front to spread their narrative and enact astroturfing. They’re meant to scare dissent and paint a tyranny of the majority. The average scroller who is less news or security-savvy might see a post run down by trolls and actually believe that the dominant pulse is to call for military action against Marcos.”
“When this sentiment is repeated constantly throughout various pages and platforms, it can influence public opinion or perception in the long run. The military statement for the first time sets the tone of intolerance toward such inauthentic support and kills one avenue for their reach, at least until the buzz dies down,” she added.
A military that’s not only hyper-aware but responsive to domestic troll operations and even foreign malign influence attempts is important, especially as it continues with the difficult, slow, and meticulous task of refocusing on external defense.
Government officials reckon that foreign actors like China are likely to go all out in trying to influence public sentiment in the Philippines, or meddle in its internal affairs.
But back to Manila.
Vice President Duterte’s initial “conditional threat” outburst was followed by a strange series of both walkbacks and doubling down in her attacks on the President.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has sought to bring tensions down — curiously, through a “leaked” text message from him telling allies in Congress not to push through with plans to file an impeachment complaint against Duterte. “Leaked” communication from the President of a notoriously opaque Malacañang is an amusing thought, but let’s suspend any disbelief for now.
Aloha from Hawaii
I write this week’s view from sunny and chilly Honolulu. We’re in Hawaii for just over a week as part of the East-West Center’s 2024 Jefferson Fellowship.
This year’s theme, “Partnerships, Postures and Perils: Assessing East Asia Security and Economic Environments,” resonates especially because of changes in regional players — Donald Trump returns to the White House in 2025, as Taiwan’s Lai Ching-te tries to rally support for the independently-governed island. (He was the East-West Center’s guest on Sunday, December 1 here at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.)
And there’s the Philippines — months away from a hot midterm election as the two most powerful elected officials of the land clash. Then there’s China — whose navy in late November 2024 had apparently harassed Filipino fisherfolk in the West Philippine Sea. – Rappler.com