Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner Jr. refuted malicious and misleading report of Chinese intelligence agents posing as journalists at a defense conference in Singapore.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines social media post, showing Teodoro being asked by people claiming to be “journalists” asked him if the Philippines is a proxy of the United States at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

Teodoro said when I was asked if the Philippines is a proxy of the US, I answered ‘no’ because we are Filipinos. I had an argument with them. They’re the ones stealing our territory. They have yet to release a story about it and they will again twist the narrative.

Teodoro and Brawner were attending the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, an event the defense secretary noted had no official delegates from Beijing.

Instead of sending a defense minister, they sent kids pretending to be journalists but are actually intelligence agents who ask malicious questions then manipulate the video, he added.

“Yung mga yan, hindi iyan mga journalist na iyan kaya tama lang na iniwasan ni (Chief of Staff). Ako akala ko tunay na journalist. Nakipag sagutan ako dahil Pilipino, naagrabyado yung mga Pilipinas, natural sasagutin ko,” he added.

(They are not real journalists so our Chief of Staff did the right thing by not answering them. I thought they were real so I argued with them because I’m a Filipino and they were maligning the Philippines, so naturally I responded.)

Brawner narrated that he did not answer any queries of supposed journalists as he was proceeding to a bilateral meeting.

“Later on, naglabas sila sa WeChat, binaliktad nila ang story na umiiwas daw tayo sa mga tanong nila about West Philippine Sea at yung ang paratang nila na tayo ang iinfiltrate o tayo ang encroach, pumapasok, dun sa teritoryo nila,” Brawner said.

(They released an article on WeChat, saying that the Philippines is avoiding answering questions about the West Philippine Sea and accused us of infiltrating, encroaching, and entering their territory.)

Teodoro added he later saw the so-called “journalists” again and even waved at them with a greeting, ”Kanina nakita ko itong mga bata na ito, kinawayan ko. ‘Hello mga agent ng MSS (Ministry of State Security)!’, hindi na lumapit. ‘Yung mga iyan hindi naman tunay na journalist.”

(A while ago I saw them again and waved, “Hello MSS agents!”. They did not come near. They are not real journalists.)

In a social media post on Sunday, the AFP said the supposed journalists “violated protocol” by trailing Brawner and “pressing for comments outside formal sessions.”

“They captured selective footage and twisted it into a misleading narrative titled “Philippine military chief dodges questions,” the AFP said.

“The AFP and DND remain committed to truth, professionalism, and defending the Philippines against foreign propaganda,” it added.