THE camp of presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., on Thursday, October 7, 2021, said they had nothing to do with the message promoting him that was sent out through the emergency alerts system.

Marcos’ chief of staff, Vic Rodriguez, said in a television interview that they consider the incident as a “political sabotage.”

"No supporter of Bongbong Marcos resorted to such an underhanded method. His numbers are doing very, very well and we have common sense in our team. We will not do such a thing to undermine or undercut all the gains we’ve been getting after all the hard work these past few years, months...No way we’re going to resort to such an illegal use of a tool meant to save lives," he said.

"We did not and we will never resort to all these underhanded methods meant to sabotage and derail the political career of Bongbong Marcos,” he added.

On Wednesday, October 6, just right after Marcos filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) for president for the 2022 elections, several individuals including journalists covering the week-long event at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Pasay City received an emergency alert containing a message promoting him.

Read: Message promoting Marcos sent out as emergency alert

Under Republic Act 10639, also known as the Free Mobile Disaster Alerts Act, mobile phone service providers are mandated to send out alerts at regular intervals to warn citizens of an impending tropical storm, typhoon, tsunami, or other calamities.

The alerts are based on advisories from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) and other relevant agencies.

In a statement, the NDRRMC also said it did not issue the message promoting Marcos.

It also said that according to their telco partners, the message did not come from them.

The disaster bureau urged the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to look into the matter.

In a separate interview, NTC Deputy Commissioner Edgardo Cabarrios said tracing the people behind the message will take time, noting it could have originated from a portable cell site being illegally operated.

He said the use of portable cell sites are not allowed unless it was permitted by the NDRRMC and other relevant agencies especially in times of calamities.

“These portable cell sites can only be used during emergencies. So in this particular case, there is no emergency. So the use of this is illegal,” he said.

“We do not have the equipment yet (to track portable sites). That’s the reason why if our regulation branch recommends later on, that we seek the assistance of law enforcement agencies because they have the expertise,” Cabarrios added. (SunStar Philippines)