Government urged: Beef up intel vs China spies
Credit to Author: Marc Jayson Cayabyab| Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0800
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines should brace for the worst and expect more intense espionage activities by Chinese spies amid an escalating conflict with China over the West Philippine Sea, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian warned yesterday.
In an interview with radio dwIZ, Gatchalian said it was no longer surprising that Chinese sleeper agents were arrested by authorities at a time when the Philippines was upping the ante in asserting its sovereign rights in the South China Sea and defying the bullying and hostile acts of China Coast Guard vessels in the country’s territorial waters.
He echoed the concern of President Marcos, who said he was “very disturbed” about the reported arrests by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) of six suspected Chinese sleeper agents.
Deng Yuanqing and his two Filipino cohorts were arrested on Jan. 17 in Makati in possession of alleged espionage equipment for mapping and transmitting data on military camps and infrastructure.
Deng’s accomplices – Cai Shaohuang, Wang Yong Yi, Wu Chin Ren, Wu Cheng Ting and Cheng Hai Tao – were arrested days later on charges of gathering information on the rotation and resupply missions of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in Palawan, where they allegedly set up surveillance cameras and posed as tourists to map naval detachments and coast guard stations.
“This is alarming. Chinese spies have been doing this in our country for quite some time, complete with equipment for their operations here. This is something we should expect. Let’s be prepared,” Gatchalian said.
He commended the NBI for its successful operations against the suspected spies, but added that Philippine law enforcers should expand their intelligence network.
“I commend the NBI for catching the spies in the act, but we should widen further our intelligence capability. I really think there are more spies out there,” the senator said.
The Senate uncovered extensive Chinese espionage, infiltration and propaganda activities during its investigation on the now banned Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) hubs, which served as fronts of syndicates for criminal operations, particularly human trafficking.
During the POGO hearings, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) deputy director general Francisco Acedillo said the Chinese spy network has long been entrenched in the economic and political landscape of the Philippines.
The most high-profile official accused of being a spy is dismissed mayor Alice Guo, tagged as having links to the raided Bamban, Tarlac POGO hub and accused of being a communist spy by gambling tycoon and self-confessed agent She Zhijiang.
Acedillo said Guo is an “agent of influence” who used her position for the benefit of China.
Gatchalian, who was active in the Senate POGO investigations, said Chinese spies slipped past authorities when they pretended to work for POGOs, which proliferated during the previous administration.
“Now that POGOs are banned, the entry of spies can also be prevented, and foreign agents will find a more difficult time to get in and threaten our national security,” Gatchalian said.
Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said the arrested Chinese spies have “regular immigration statuses in the Philippines.” He said this “added to the suspicion that they have embedded themselves in society.”
While he did not specifically identify the “foreign nationals” as Chinese, Viado said they were those recently arrested by the NBI and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Viado said the BI would “work closely with the NBI to determine if there are individuals who assisted the suspects in their supposed illegal activities.”
“Should we confirm that there are individuals – whether Filipinos or foreign nationals – that hid or assisted these alleged spies, we will file cases against them for harboring illegal aliens, in violation of section 46 of the Philippine immigration act of 1940,” he said. — Ghio Ong, Daphne Galvez