China banned Tolentino because of his fake exposé
FORMER senator Francis Tolentino was banned by China from entering its territories not just because of what the Chinese Embassy officially explained as his “egregious conduct on China-related issues.” Nor was it solely because he was the principal author of the Philippine Maritime Zones Act, which claimed that the Spratlys and Scarborough Shoal were Filipino territories, contrary to Chinese claims. That law was passed by Congress and signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Nov. 7, 2024.
Sources in the diplomatic community claimed Tolentino was banned because of Chinese wrath over his allegations in the Senate that the Chinese Embassy conducted online influence operations — troll farms — spreading pro-Beijing narratives and attacking Philippine government officials and anti-China personalities on social media. Tolentino produced in the Senate a contract and a check for P930,000 issued by the Chinese Embassy to Infinitus Marketing Solutions Inc., which allegedly financed the troll farm.
Tolentino made his allegations on April 24, 2025, which convinced analysts that it was a rushed operation to get reelected in the May 12 elections, as it put him on most newspapers’ front pages and furthered his claim that if he weren’t reelected, “Sasakupin tayo ng Tsina.” Tolentino lost, landing in the 25th place, below even first-timers running for senator.
Tolentino simply dropped his one-day allegations and didn’t provide an iota of evidence to prove his claim that the Chinese Embassy bankrolled a troll farm. National Security Council Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) had committed to investigate Tolentino’s allegations. The NBI said it had no such plan and that Tolentino didn’t even ask it to do so.
Infinitus CEO Paul Li testified in a Senate hearing that the firm’s contract involved organizing public events, such as the Award for Promoting Philippines-China Understanding, rather than a covert disinformation campaign.
I would believe that: The Chinese Embassy has had a reputation in diplomatic circles for hosting several elaborate events each year — especially on the anniversary of China’s founding — that cost millions of pesos, with giveaways even being distributed at such affairs. I tried to interview executives of Infinitus who however refused to do so, claiming the firm manages events for other embassies, and that they “just want to be left alone” — that they will face Tolentino in the proper legal forum.
Iota
After this dud of a “blockbuster” in the Senate, Tolentino didn’t provide an iota of proof, nor a single item of social media content by trolls. As is the practice of our media today, they just forgot about the issue.
Sources claimed, though, that the Chinese were extremely bothered by Tolentino’s allegations because of one thing: the check paid out by the Chinese Embassy to the public relations firm.
Tolentino’s copy of the check indicated that it had not been cashed or deposited into the company’s bank account. This means that Tolentino got a copy of the check as well as the service contract itself from an informant in the Chinese Embassy.
This obviously was a serious security breach for the Chinese Embassy, raising the important question: “Did Tolentino get these from his own informant, or from one planted in the Chinese Embassy by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)?”
I can only presume that the Chinese Embassy worked feverishly in the past two months to determine who Tolentino’s or the CIA’s informant was. Tolentino must have been ignorant that China’s Ministry of State Security — with its staff of 100,000, four times that of the CIA — has developed, without laymen aware of it, a reputation for being much more efficient at extracting information than the Israeli Mossad or Russia’s FSB. For his political ambitions, he probably exposed a CIA mole in the embassy.
Did the Chinese Embassy manage in the past two months to get the mole to disclose that he or she was with the CIA? That he or she has been working with Tolentino, which for the Chinese was sufficient reason to ban him from entering China — making him the first Filipino to be sanctioned in this way? It would be ironic if that were so: a CIA mole against the US’ prime rival is exposed because of a senator’s dumb electioneering move.
I told you so
A day after I wrote a column proving that OCTA Research’s opinion survey on people’s views about the country rejoining the International Criminal Court (ICC) was so flawed — made only to manufacture a false picture that most Filipinos support the proposal — here’s an Inquirer columnist Joel Ruiz Butuyan, who is also an ICC-accredited lawyer, proving my point.
Yesterday, he wrote a column “Mr. President, let’s now rejoin the ICC.” His sole argument for his advice regarding the ICC is the flawed OCTA poll:
“With a clear majority of Filipinos supporting our country’s return to the International Criminal Court, President Marcos is presented with a rare chance to step out of his father’s controversial shadow. In a survey conducted from April 20 to 24 by OCTA Research, 57 percent of Filipinos support the country’s return to the ICC. Meanwhile, 37 percent said they were opposed to it, while 6 percent were undecided.”
For somebody who spent most of his working life as an attorney examining the validity of claims in courts, Butuyan showed such intellectual laziness — or is it really dishonesty? — regarding the OCTA report.
If a lawyer with, as he says, “27 years as a private and public interest lawyer,” who is the president of the Center for International Law, and an accredited counsel of the ICC would be so intellectually lazy or dishonest as to swallow hook, line and sinker a fake opinion survey — one that claims we should rejoin the ICC — expect the anti-Duterte columnists to repeat the OCTA lies.
The University of the Philippines should expel the OCTA members from their faculty for violating academic honesty and integrity.
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China banned Tolentino because of his fake exposé
Source: Breaking News PH
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