14 May 2026 By Mon Lay
YANGON, Myanmar — Pro-military lobbyists in Myanmar have launched a coordinated wave of personal attacks against Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the current ASEAN Chair, after he began formal diplomatic engagements with Myanmar’s revolutionary forces.
The smear campaign, largely carried out through junta-aligned Telegram channels, intensified after President Marcos Jr. formally responded to a letter from the Yangon Federal Unit (YFU). The move followed his decision to maintain the exclusion of junta leaders from ASEAN summits, branding the regime a “pseudo-government” during the 48th ASEAN Summit in Cebu.
Military disinformants have begun circulating historical allegations regarding the Marcos family, including the $658 million in hidden Swiss bank accounts and human rights records from the era of martial law under the President’s father. They have also pointed to current domestic political tensions between the Marcos and Duterte families, claiming the President is losing public trust at home.
“The junta is terrified because the ASEAN Chair is granting legitimacy to the resistance instead of them,” a political analyst told MPA. “By attacking his personal credibility and family history, they are attempting to undermine his standing as a regional leader.”
Human rights activists argue that the junta’s tactics display a profound lack of diplomatic maturity. “They are digging into another country’s past to distract from the crimes they are committing today,” a Yangon-based activist said. “Marcos Jr. has been clear that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi remains central to any peace process, and that truth is what is truly causing the regime to panic.”
Under the Philippine leadership, ASEAN has taken a noticeably firmer stance, increasingly looking toward the National Unity Government (NUG) and federal units as valid stakeholders. The junta’s lobbies have responded by labeling the President a “Western puppet” and a “corrupt official” in daily social media posts.
As the military loses ground domestically, its isolation on the international stage appears to be deepening. Analysts suggest that the more the ASEAN Chair engages with the revolutionary groups, the more the junta will resort to “troll farm” tactics to retaliate. However, for the people of Myanmar, the Philippine President’s willingness to acknowledge the “ground reality” is seen as a significant breakthrough in a long-stalled regional diplomatic effort.
The Philippine government has yet to respond to the online attacks emanating from Myanmar, but the rift highlights a growing divide between the junta and its Southeast Asian neighbors.
