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Raissa Robles

Supporters of former president Rodrigo Duterte have amplified viral claims that Iran could target the Philippines in retaliation for US actions in the Middle East, a narrative analysts say is being used to portray the country’s defence ties with Washington as a threat to national security.
The rumours spread widely enough online that the Armed Forces of the Philippines felt compelled to issue a public rebuttal.
On Tuesday, armed forces spokeswoman Colonel Francel Margareth Padilla said there was “currently no credible direct threat to Philippine territory or to Filipinos and the foreign nationals in the country”.
She told reporters: “The Armed Forces of the Philippines assures the public that national security conditions remain stable. The public is encouraged to remain calm, exercise vigilance against disinformation, and rely only on verified government sources.”
Her remarks followed social media posts by Davao City Congressman Paolo Duterte, son of the former president, and ex-poll commissioner and congresswoman Rowena Guanzon suggesting that the Philippines could be dragged into the widening US-Iran conflict.

On Sunday, Paolo Duterte wrote on social media that “with tensions escalating globally including the widening fallout of the US-Iran conflict and the ever-present risk of a larger confrontation involving China, these EDCA sites [hosting American soldiers] turn our communities, airports, and seaports into potential battlegrounds”.
“By allowing the unchecked expansion of US military access across our country, this administration is effectively painting bullseyes on Filipino soil,” he warned.
The Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement, or EDCA, allows US forces rotational access to selected Philippine military bases and permits the pre-positioning of equipment, while ownership and control remain with Manila.
A day later, Guanzon told her social media followers that “if [Iran] takes it into its head to target these numerous American bases … the Philippines could be pulverised if Iran lobs missiles at our country since we have no missile interceptors”.
During Tuesday’s military press briefing, the armed forces’ Navy Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said it was physically impossible for Iranian missiles to reach the Philippines.
“The largest missile system of the IRGC would only reach up to 2,000km. We are 7,500km away,” he said, referring to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“Iran does not have any state or non-state proxy in this part of the globe.”
In an interview with This Week in Asia, Guanzon said she was “just being sarcastic” when she wrote that Iran could fire missiles at the Philippines, adding that “if you take it literally, that’s stupid”.
Guanzon said her comment was aimed at military chief General Romeo Brawner Jnr, over remarks he had made in November last year that the Philippines had a “world-class armed forces” that could defend the country.
“I’m not criticising the military,” she said. “I’m only criticising Brawner.”


Dominic Ligot, executive director of Data and AI Ethics PH and a member of the Democracy.net.ph consortium, said it was the first time he had seen the Iran conflict used online to discredit President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s administration.
“We have nothing to do with the Middle East,” he said.
Ligot noted that the narrative echoed earlier claims that the EDCA sites placed the Philippines at risk of an attack from China.
The storyline, he said, was that “we’re now at risk and the administration is irresponsible”.
Variants of that argument have surfaced well beyond the Duterte camp, including claims aired last year by Senator Imee Marcos, the president’s sister, that China was planning to target sites in the Philippines with missile strikes, without providing proof.
Political and risk analyst Ronald Llamas said supporters of the Duterte family had repeated “the same narrative for the past three years – that the EDCA sites are a magnet for trouble”.
This was often followed by criticism of Manila being close to Washington “when we should be closer to China”, he said.
Llamas criticised both Paolo Duterte and Guanzon for spreading misinformation.
“They should check their geography,” he said.
While he was doubtful that Guanzon’s claim of Iran sending missiles to the Philippines was gaining support among Filipinos in general, Llamas said “it has traction in their base, the Duterte base, which is still big”.


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The Philippines

Duterte allies use Iran war threat to attack Philippines’ US ties

A naval base in Cagayan province, the Philippines. The Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement, or EDCA, allows US forces rotational access to selected Philippine military bases. Photo: EPA-EFE

Paolo Duterte in 2017. The Davao City congressman has suggested the Philippines could be dragged into the US-Iran conflict. Photo: Reuters

Allies of Philippines’ Duterte step up online attacks as drug war trial looms

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (centre) holds a Galil sniper rifle during the national police chief change of command ceremony inside Camp Crame in Quezon City in April 2018. Duterte is accused of overseeing a campaign of extrajudicial killings linked to his signature “war on drugs”. Photo: EPA-EFE

Images of victims of alleged extrajudicial killings during the term of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte are laid out during a rally in Quezon City in November 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE

The International Criminal Court in The Hague. Photo: Shutterstock

Duterte supporter Cathy Binag last month posted an altered photograph of three women – relatives of drug war victims – who had travelled to the ICC. Photo: Facebook / Gerry Cacanindin

A news story listing children who died in Duterte’s drug war drew tens of thousands of laughing emoji reactions. Photo: Facebook / Inquirer.net

Views of corruption in Philippines worsen as ‘grease money’ dents confidence

Protesters wearing face masks depicting Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and Vice President Sara Duterte take part in an anti-corruption rally in Manila in November. Photo: AFP

People wade through floodwaters caused by Tropical Storm Penha in Iligan, Lanao del Norte, earlier this month. The flood-control corruption scandal in the Philippines has hit business confidence. Photo: AFP

Supporters of ex-Philippine senator Ramon ‘Bong’ Revilla Jnr gather outside the anti-corruption court in Quezon City, Metro Manila, last month. Revilla and six others are facing corruption charges. Photo: EPA

Buildings under construction in Manila. The Philippine economy has slowed due in part to the flood-control corruption scandal. Photo: AFP

US missile deployments in Philippines signal deeper strategic shift in region

A US M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, fires during the Balikatan joint military exercises at a naval station in Zambales province, northern Philippines, on April 26, 2023. Photo: AP

Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez answers questions from reporters in Manila on February 10. Photo: AP

A US Marine Air Defense Integrated System, or MADIS, fires at a drone during a live-fire Philippines–US joint military exercise at a Philippine Navy training camp in San Antonio, Zambales province, on April 27, 2025. Photo: AP

ICC naming of Duterte’s allies sharpens Philippines’ political fault lines

Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte (left) listening to Ronald Dela Rosa, then director general of the Philippine National Police, during a press conference at the Malacanang palace in Manila in 2017. Photo: AFP

Protesters hold pictures of former president Rodrigo Duterte as they call for justice for the victims of the war on drugs during his administration in Quezon City, the Philippines, in March 2025. Photo: AP

Senator Christopher “Bong” Go (centre), an ally of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in March 2025. Photo: AFP

Images of victims of alleged extrajudicial killings during Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency are laid out during a rally in Quezon City, the Philippines, in November 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Social media posts claim US bases in the Philippines are like ‘bullseyes on Filipino soil’, prompting the military to debunk the disinformation


Social media posts claim US bases in the Philippines are like ‘bullseyes on Filipino soil’, prompting the military to debunk the disinformation.


Duterte allies use Iran war threat to attack Philippines’ US ties

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Social media posts claim US bases in the Philippines are like ‘bullseyes on Filipino soil’, prompting the military to debunk the disinformation

Social media posts claim US bases in the Philippines are like ‘bullseyes on Filipino soil’, prompting the military to debunk the disinformation