This is a cheap coordinated inauthentic campaign — astroturfing. More than 30 freshly made accounts, anime avatars, auto-generated usernames, one photo, the same five-hour window, the same scripted word: “chameleon.” No dates, no context, no engagement. Obviously, this is not organic public opinion. It simply means somebody is spending a large budget to discredit or destroy my credibility.
Since these trolls did not give the context of this photo, I will. This photo was taken back in 2022. Then-Commandant Admiral Artemio Abu brought me along to a dinner at the residence of then-Ambassador Huang Xilian. It was my first invitation from the Chinese Embassy, and it also became my last.
Over dinner, Ambassador Huang Xilian asked me a question I still remember. Why, he said, are Filipinos such “colonizer lovers” — fond of Spain, which enslaved our people for three centuries; of the United States, which looks down on us until now; of Japan, which raped and abused our women — while China, a friend and trading partner for centuries, is treated with suspicion?
I answered him plainly. In this modern age, those countries respect international law. China does not. It persistently violates UNCLOS, encroaches into our waters in the West Philippine Sea, and — worst of all — harasses Philippine Coast Guard vessels doing their lawful duty.
He said that was not true.
So I took out my phone and showed him the video: a China Coast Guard vessel stripping the canvas awning off its deck gun while chasing BRP Teresa Magbanua (MRRV-9701). He said the video was fabricated. Then he asked for a copy, and I said no. After that, he no longer turned to me for candid conversation.
As we left, I told him I looked forward to the next dinner. The invitation never came.
That is the “smile” in the photo. I was a guest of my Commandant, in a diplomat’s home, and I told the Ambassador the truth to his face — with evidence. Nothing about that has changed. What changed is that the evidence kept piling up: water cannons, rammings, survey ships, dangerous maneuvers against our resupply missions — most recently against M/V Lapu-Lapu two days ago.
So when you see this photo pushed by accounts that did not exist last month, recognize the playbook: manufacture a “flip-flop,” attack the messenger, drown out the footage. Coordinated inauthentic behavior has a name, a sponsor, and a purpose — and it is not the Filipino people.
