Manila: The presidential palace called for a stop to sabotage attacks carried out on Philippine websites as the government stood by helplessly as hackers from abroad vandalise local sites.

"Whoever is responsible, the attack does not help anybody. The actions as simply disrupting activity carried out over the sites. Let's just stop this," Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said in an interview aired over government-run dzRB radio.

Hackers who claim to be from China had been engaged in a tit-for-tat conflict with their Philippine counterparts over the past few weeks, whether these cyber savvy troublemakers are acting independently of under the direction of authorities, remain to be confirmed. In the meantime, their activities had been limited to defacing popular websites.

Reports said that on Friday evening, hackers victimised the website of the daily The Philippine Star, causing the opening page of the site to display the red flag of the People's Republic of China a message with Chinese characters and a phrase "Warning: Philippines, China inviolable state sovereignty. We are come from China."

The Philippines and China had been engaged in a nearly month-long stand-off in the Scarborough Shoal, a resource rich group of islets located some 120 nautical miles off the coast of Zambales province.

While the cyber attack had largely been confined to mischievous exchange of political statements, there had been apprehensions that these actions could portend more damaging attacks on crucial government sites and portals.

"At the end of the day it would help no one, these actions are counterproductive and does not do anyone or any party any good," she said.

Last April at the start of the Scarborough Shoal standoff, Chinese hackers defaced the website of the University of the Philippines. The premier educational institution's site had been replaced with a message saying that the disputed territory belongs to China.

Earlier, Senator Francis Pangilinan cautioned Filipinos against being unwitting pawns in what could possibly be a politically motivated show of force of China in their excursions into the Scarborough Shoal.

"We should not allow our country to be unwittingly drawn into the escalating tensions over the Scarborough Shoal. We must tread very carefully. China is currently embroiled in a leadership scandal at the highest levels of the Communist Party. The current tension in the West Philippine Sea could become a very convenient diversion by fanning the flames of nationalist fanaticism in China."

The senator points out, "We should not allow ourselves to become scapegoats in a brewing internal controversy. We must exercise utmost restraint."