28th Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum – Countering Foreign Interference and Economic Coercion: The Experience of the Indo-Pacific
Mr. Jules Arceo presented their study from the Ateneo School of Government entitled, “Strengthening Democratic Governance: Countering Malign Foreign Influence and Interference in the Philippines”, the primary objective of which is to provide insights into the influence operations of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Philippines, and the goal is to identify potential countermeasures to address them.
He underscored that the CCP’s malign influence operations manifest in politics, economics, and national security, affecting institutions both on the national (including the legislature and the subnational levels. The latter includes local government units (LGUs) and educational institutions, citing for instance the cases of sister-cities arrangements of LGUs and the Confucius Institutes. He provided the following mechanisms to counter malign foreign influence and interference: legislative reforms, investing in intellectual resources, activating technical civil society organizations, and integrating social cyber forensics.
Mr. Arceo recommended policy measures, which include among others, engaging the media on literacy campaigns and the Filipino-Chinese business communities to establish rapport, instilling logical and critical thinking in the youth, and imposing disclosure requirements for LGU officials travelling abroad.
He stressed that the proposed legislation on malign foreign influence and interference should consider areas of vulnerability, like privacy rights and constitutional protections.
