Ang-See calls for fair probe on ‘Chinese spy’
Credit to Author: Pia Lee-Brago| Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0800
MANILA, Philippines — Teresita Ang See, a prominent figure in Filipino-Chinese community relations, has issued a statement addressing the arrest of Deng Yuanqing, a Chinese national accused of espionage.
In her statement, Ang See questioned the basis of the allegations, highlighting inconsistencies in the narrative.
Deng’s sister Wenying clarified that he is a labor contractor for a driving technology company working on a road-testing project in the Philippines. The equipment in question, she explained, consisted of standard road surveying instruments provided by two engineers from the company.
Wenying noted that Deng’s work involved road mapping for smart vehicle technologies. “Will a spy or a sleeper agent be caught with equipment in full view of anyone?”
She appealed for a thorough investigation to clear her brother’s name.
Wenying urged authorities to conduct an impartial investigation, emphasizing that Deng has been denied consular visits from the Chinese embassy, raising concerns about his well-being.
She criticized the tendency to jump to conclusions, stating, “It is a big jump to an ‘iffy’ conclusion that China is spying on the Philippines just because a technician has road surveying instruments in his car.”
Wenying warned against fueling conspiracy theories that could harm Philippine-China relations and appealed to authorities to resolve the case fairly and swiftly to avoid undue tension.
On Jan. 17, authorities arrested Deng – and his two Filipino companions, Jayson Amado Fernandez and Ronel Jojo Balundo Besa – in Makati City for allegedly collecting sensitive data on military facilities and critical infrastructure, which posed potential threats to national security.
The three are facing a non-bailable espionage charge under Section 1(a) and 2(a) of Commonwealth Act 616, in relation to Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
The three were presented to the media on Jan. 20, with Fernandez and Besa reportedly signing extrajudicial affidavits stating that they were instructed to transport Deng and his equipment to various locations in Luzon.
The equipment confiscated from Deng was described by National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) cybercrime division chief Jeremy Lotoc as capable of generating coordinates, which could be utilized for drone control and mapping topography and terrain.
NBI Director Jaime Santiago, on the other hand, added that the devices contained an application enabling remote access to systems via the internet, allowing the suspect to extract data without physically entering facilities or accessing targeted devices.
Santiago further revealed that the equipment used real-time kinematic and global navigation satellite systems to transmit data directly to China in real-time.
The 39-year-old Deng is an alumnus of the Army Engineering University, formerly known as the People’s Liberation Army University of Science and Technology, which is part of the Chinese Communist Party’s military arm, the People’s Liberation Army.
He is a specialist in control and automation engineering, where systems are designed to regulate the behavior of devices or systems within constraints, all aiming to control outputs.
According to the Bureau of Immigration, Deng has been residing in the Philippines since 2013.
Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said Deng first arrived in the Philippines in 2013 and was later issued a residence visa after marrying a 36-year-old Filipina.
His records also revealed that he has been living in Metro Manila, and has traveled in and out of the country numerous times for almost 12 years, Viado added.