The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said in a press conference on Tuesday that they see a possible connection linking the recent arrest of a Chinese national for alleged espionage, the recovery of underwater drones in Philippine waters, and the arrest of foreign nationals with fake identification cards.
Philippine Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, said that there may be foreign powers attempting to “map out” the country.
“The Chinese national may be an isolated case, but if we look at the bigger picture, last month, we received the drone from fisherfolk, the fifth undergoing forensics. If we take two steps further backward, a local chief executive with a dubious background was uncovered; foreign nationals with fake government IDs were arrested,” Trinidad said
“If you look at the entire expanse of the country, covering the different instruments of national power and start connecting the dots, there seems now to be a deliberate and calculated move to map out the country by a foreign power,” he added.
“Ito ang binabantayan ng inyong Armed Forces. We are facing this and we are taking appropriate action,” Trinidad stressed.
Trinidad noted the emerging pattern and stated that these activities do not pose an immediate threat yet. However, they are keeping a lookout for any foreign entities attempting to scope the country.
“There is a pattern, and we only noticed the pattern when we started looking at the bigger picture and connecting the dots. These issues are not yet a threat to national security but may pose a risk to public safety, and peace and order,” Trinidad explained.
“Any foreign power that would like to take advantage of the country would need political information, economic information, military information. In today’s world, ang paggamit ng information ay tumatawid, whether political, economic, or military,” he continued.
AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margeth Padilla emphasized that the military is “looking at the bigger picture” and “connecting the dots,” which includes operations by Philippine offshore gaming operators, which have recently been banned.
“As we take a step back and look at the bigger picture and connect the dots, tinitignan natin yung mga siloed approaches na iba-iba. Ang na-mention din dyan notably ng ating Chief of Staff is the illegal part of the POGO operations,” Padilla said.
“So how everything forms part of a bigger picture, that is what we intend to achieve with all of this intel gathering that we’re making,” she added.