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AFP looking into circumstances of espionage suspects' activities

Philippine News Agency

By Priam Nepomuceno
January 22, 2025, 2:27 pm

MANILA -- The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Wednesday said it is looking into the circumstances regarding the activities of the Chinese national and two of his Filipino cohorts who were earlier arrested in Makati City for alleged espionage activities.

"We want to take a step back, take a look at the bigger picture, and try to connect the dots. So ano po ba ang mga activities na ito na nangyayari? (what are the activities that took place)," AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said in an interview with Radyo Pilipinas.

While the arrested foreign national was caught conducting "unauthorized surveillance and reconnaissance activity" of critical civilian and military infrastructure, Padilla said they are now determining what could be the exact reasons for these.

She added that the AFP is working with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to get to the bottom of this.

"We are looking at evidence-based gathering of information para dito (for this)," Padilla said.

The AFP spokesperson said they are now looking at the equipment recovered from the arrested suspects and the information or data to get an idea or possible purpose of the suspects.

Relatedly, Padilla said the AFP and NBI counter-action operations against the Chinese national, who has been involved in these unauthorized activities, have proven successful.

Earlier, Padilla said the arrested Chinese national went on trips for over a month in the Luzon mainland and utilized their equipment to map and survey critical infrastructures and strategic areas, including military installations, ports, malls, communications grids, energy grid, and major seaports and airports covering major routes from the northernmost point of Luzon down to the Bicol region.

"Our intelligence operatives also noted that this Chinese national achieved this through a network of financiers, technical experts, which are also Chinese nationals, and support personnel. And notably, he has been in the Philippines for over 10 years, as I said, he is married to a Filipina and has been able to establish businesses here in the Philippines. The same businesses are also being used as fronts to receive large amounts of funds to enable his illicit activities," Padilla said.

She also added that the AFP, NBI and other security experts are conducting further investigations into these operations.

"We are ensuring that the territorial integrity and the national security of the country is intact," Padilla said. (PNA)