In 2020 and 2021, a secret Pentagon program deployed fake social media accounts to sow distrust among people in Southeast Asian countries, particularly the Philippines, around China’s Sinovac vaccination for COVID-19. Clusters of accounts identified as having ties to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) made posts with the hashtag #ChinaAngVirus - or “China is the virus” in Tagalog suggested that the coronavirus is real, but China’s vaccinations were not to be trusted...

Filipinos Don’t Want to Be Used as a “Footstool for American Power Projection and Provocation” Says Filipino Peace Activist This past month, more than 3,000 U.S. and Filipino soldiers participated in a three-week live-fire military exercise called Balikatan, which included a drill to blow up a mock Chinese warship in...

Mainstream media ignore voices of dissent as the Biden administration moves forward with plans to beef up already heavy U.S. military presence in Southeast Asia. On November 21, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris met with Filipino President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., at the Malacanang Palace in Manila to discuss...

Filipinos find themselves living in a back-to-the-future nightmare made in part by the U.S. with dictator Ferdinand Marcos’s son as their new president. On Saturday, August 6, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., in Manila and pledged greater U.S. military support for the Philippines...