On the sinister U.S. anti-vax campaign targeting Filipinos
Malaya Movement USA vehemently condemns the US government’s clandestine anti-vaccination and anti-China disinformation campaign aimed at Filipinos at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This psychological warfare operation, uncovered by Reuters, is an unconscionable act by the US military in an effort to discredit and attack its rival superpower, China, at the expense of thousands of Filipino lives. It contributed to unfounded anti-vaccination hesitancy at a time when the Philippines was experiencing some of the worst cases of COVID infections and deaths in the region.
The investigation exposed the US’ psychological warfare operation through an orchestrated social media campaign to spread anti-Chinese sentiments and distrust for the Sinovac vaccine in the Philippines in early 2021. As the US worked with private corporations to squeeze profit out of the sale of vaccines, it also kept the life-saving vaccines away from innocent Filipinos for its own political, economic, and military interests against China. The massive disinformation campaign was carried out by the US military’s psychological operations center based in Tampa, Florida and deployed by private corporation, General Dynamics.
Such a campaign was possible because of the history of disinformation and psywar that was especially devastating under former president and dictator Rodrigo Duterte. Coupled with Duterte’s heavily militarized response to the global pandemic and crumbling public health infrastructure, the Philippines was not equipped to combat this anti-vaccination campaign. It is unsurprising but shameful that the Philippine state, through its Embassy or Consulates, failed to comment on the matter when asked by the journalists at Reuters. It is imperative that the Philippine Embassy do its job and uphold its duties to protect and serve Filipinos.
This sinister campaign is infuriating. The US has blood on its hands and certainly contributed to so many preventable deaths through this plot. While the US military was busy carrying out psychological warfare on innocent people across the globe and wasting US tax dollars, people in the US also suffered devastating deaths with very little support from the government. We remember the disproportionate number of Filipino nurses killed at the start of the pandemic and the dismal “stimulus” that amounted to less than a month’s worth of rent and bills. It is alarming that US tax dollars have not only funded human rights violations and war crimes in the Philippines but have also contributed to this blatant medical disinformation and psychological warfare on our people.
At present, mainstream media outlets in the Philippines are also radio silent on the matter, and we call on all Filipinos to raise public clamor. Do not let this story go unheard! Filipinos are not mere pawns and collateral in US’ war games. There is no excuse for gambling with the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and the US military, Department of Defense, the Pentagon, State Department, and all officials who played a role in implementing this deadly propaganda psywar must be held to account.
We demand that the Philippine government, particularly its Consulates and the Embassy in Washington DC, conduct an independent probe and investigate on behalf of its people.
We hold firm that no more US tax dollars go towards human rights violations, war crimes, and psychological warfare in the Philippines and that the Philippine Enhanced Resilience Act must be rejected. Pass the Philippine Human Rights Act instead and prevent more tax dollars from funding crimes against the Filipino people.
