Filipinos distrust China amid bullying at West Philippine Sea — survey

MANILA, Philippines — China's continued aggression over the disputed West Philippine Sea territories is causing growing discontent among Filipinos.

This sentiment is shown by a recent survey conducted by Oculum Research and Analytics. 

China is the least trusted country among 1,200 respondents in the poll released on September 27, with 51% registering their disapproval. 

The United States (US), Beijing's archnemesis on the global stage, notched the highest approval, at 62%.

China recently sparked a diplomatic row after it installed a 300-meter floating barrier along Scarborough Shoal to prevent the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and fishermen from entering the area, which Beijing claims to be theirs. Authorities slammed the blockage as a "clear violation of international law."

The PCG last week cut off a portion of the barrier under the orders of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesperson of the PCG for the West Philippine Sea, vowed to remove any future obstruction that may hinder fisherfolk from earning a living.

"In the coming months, if ever that barrier will once again be in place, the PCG will do whatever it takes for us to remove the barrier," Tarriela told reporters.

The Philippines is also accusing Chinese maritime militia vessels of massive coral harvesting that left patches of bleached and destructed corals along Rozul (Iroquios) Reef and Sabina (Escoda) Shoal, both part of Manila's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

"We noticed coral harvesting in their swarming areas. When they left, we pinpointed it and sent divers to do an underwater survey; they saw that no corals were left – it was damaged, and there was debris," Vice Admiral Albert Carlos, head of the Western Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said in a news forum on Septepmber 17. "[Whether] the damage is old or new, but from the eyes of the Navy divers, it looks recent."

China's billion-dollar disinformation campaign has been warned by the US State Department to challenge the "integrity of the global information space."

"When you look at the pieces of the puzzle and you put it together, you see a breathtaking ambition on the part of China to seek information