Spies in plain sight
The Alice Guo case is instructive, a template used previously to bestow Filipino citizenship on illegal Chinese nationals. On top of being convicted of human trafficking for running a crypto currency scam center, the former Bamban, Tarlac mayor was identified as a fellow operative for China by a Chinese businessman.
With Guo sentenced to life in prison, a more direct and insidious plot to plant spies in plain sight seems to be in place as indicated by the arrest of three Filipinos last week for allegedly passing crucial security information to China.
The three—two men and a woman in their 20s who were working for the Department of National Defense, the Philippine Navy, and the Philippine Coast Guard—allegedly provided their Chinese handlers with lists of military personnel and other sensitive information. The security breach included operational details on the country’s resupply missions in the West Philippine Sea, which China continues to claim aggressively despite a 2016 arbitral ruling debunking its nine-dash line.
The activities of the three personnel were uncovered in 2025 through the National Security Council’s Insider Threat Program, which traced their interactions with their foreign contacts as far back as 2022 or 2023.
Findings showed that the three were first contacted through online job platforms after they posted their credentials and résumés, and were asked to write articles or research pieces on Philippine defense issues, including naval modernization, defense diplomacy, and maritime operations.
Surveillance device
Over time, they were directed to gather more specific information and asked to photograph “any document lying around” and “forward emails … they had access to.” For these, they were allegedly paid amounts ranging from four to six digits in pesos through digital money transfers and even through food deliveries.
The Chinese embassy has denied the spying accusations, calling them “malicious smears against China and yet another attempt to hype up the so-called ‘China threat’ rhetoric.”
In recent years, Philippine authorities have arrested several Chinese nationals over alleged espionage, with one of them apprehended while operating a surveillance device near the offices of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) less than two weeks before the 2025 midterm polls. The device, an “IMSI (international mobile subscriber identity) catcher,” is capable of mimicking a cellphone tower and snatching messages from the air up to a 3-kilometer radius.
There were also attempts to recruit former members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines as “consultants or advisers” in foreign-linked operations, its spokesperson said.
Sleeper agents
A security analyst has warned that China could be targeting the 2028 elections, and practicing “strategic foresight” to support candidates who could shape the country’s stance on the West Philippine Sea dispute.
During Wednesday’s Senate hearing of the committee on national defense and security, peace, unification, and reconciliation, Sen. Panfilo Lacson revealed that he has good information that “there are sleeper agents and even regular members of [China’s] People’s Liberation Army who are here … some in Palawan, Makati, Dumaguete. They have also reached near Aguinaldo, Comelec, and Malacañang.”
Palace press officer Claire Castro has meanwhile assured the public that Chinese businessman Joseph Sy, who posed as a Filipino and even became part of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary, has already been relieved of his post.
That’s certainly welcome news, as would a diplomatic protest against China’s seeming involvement in the espionage incidents, if only to document what are clearly attempts to undermine our political independence and sovereignty using our own people.
Anti-Espionage Act
At the same time, stronger measures must be in place, including the passage of the Anti-Espionage Act, or House Bill No. 1844 filed by Mamamayang Liberal party list Rep. Leila de Lima, which imposes higher penalties for espionage. Several senators have called for life imprisonment and up to P50 million fine for those found spying in the country.
Government, too, must be more vigilant in checking all foreign-donated equipment for possible spyware. Recall that China had donated hundreds of computers to the Philippine National Police and the Department of the Interior and Local Government, which might be a national security concern. Have these donations been properly vetted by technology and security experts?
And while unemployment remains a problem among new graduates, young Filipinos should be wary of job offers that seem too good to be true, especially from foreign companies and nationals lest they become spies in their own country.
Malacañang itself has urged government employees to be more watchful and aware of their actions and interactions with their colleagues, and to report suspicious activities to authorities. As the arrest of the three alleged spies indicates, the threat to our national security is real and proximate.
