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More arrests of suspected Chinese spies soon—NSC

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There will be more arrests of suspected spies in the following days, the National Security Council (NSC) said on Wednesday.

“There will be an announcement in the next few days. What I can say right now is that there will be more arrests and this includes what happened there in Palawan,” NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said during the Utak Forum held at the New Dapo Restaurant and hosted by columnist Richard Heydarian in Quezon City.

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“We have ramped up our counterintelligence efforts. And because of that, we are slowly unraveling the conspiracy, this operation that being done by foreign actors to conduct espionage in the Philippines,” he added.

Malaya declined to disclose more details as he does not want to preempt the efforts of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) but said the government is looking into the reported espionage activities.

Reports said that the suspects were Chinese citizens with links to the Chinese man who was earlier arrested also for alleged spying.

Malaya also said that the case against the Chinese national together with Filipino cohorts is strong. 

"On the part of the NSC, I think, what we would like to say is that we have a solid case. We have a solid case against the Chinese agent or spy that we arrested. Of course, we cannot preempt the release of the information to the public, the evidence that we have collected over time," Malaya said.

This is in response to the Chinese Embassy’s claims that the accusations against the suspect Deng Yuanqing are baseless and that the Philippines should stop hyping the issue.

The NSC official emphasized that an extensive case build-up was done against the suspect.

Malaya also stressed that the suspect was caught "red-handed" or "in flagrante delicto" in legal parlance.

"We filed the necessary cases for violation of the Espionage Act and the Cybercrime Law and he will have his opportunity, but in so far as the government is concerned, we have a very solid case and we have all the necessary evidence to prove his culpability," he added.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) earlier said it based its operation on evidence on the arrest of the alleged Chinese spy, despite the denial of the suspect’s wife.

On Jan. 17, Deng Yuanqing and two Filipinos were arrested for allegedly conducting illegal surveillance and spying activities targeting military installations and power facilities in the country.

However, Deng’s wife denied that her husband was a spy.

The AFP also maintained that the Chinese national and his two Filipino cohorts who were recently arrested were engaged in “unauthorized foreign intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance activity.”

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