China announced on Thursday that it dismantled an intelligence network with connections to the Philippine espionage agency and arrested three Filipinos for espionage. This happened amid rising tensions between the two countries over the South China Sea dispute and the Philippines' relations with the United States.
According to Chinese state media, one of those arrested was a Filipino who had been living and working in China for a long time. Authorities said he was caught collecting sensitive information and secretly conducting surveillance near military facilities. It was also reported that there was CCTV footage of his arrest and a recorded confession.
According to the China report, the three Filipinos under arrest are David Servanez, Albert Endencia, and Nathalie Plizardo. They were allegedly recruited by Manila since 2021 to carry out secret intelligence tasks in China. According to Chinese national security officers, since 2021, they have been paid regularly for their work. They allegedly helped the Philippine intelligence agency in recruiting spies and expanding the network inside China. They were also accused of providing large amounts of military-related videos to Filipino agents.
Following this, espionage cases are on the rise. Earlier this year, Philippine authorities also arrested at least seven Chinese nationals for espionage. Meanwhile, China issued a travel warning to its citizens in the Philippines, allegedly due to “harassment” by local authorities.
Due to the new arrests, tensions between China and the Philippines are expected to further rise. According to experts, this could affect diplomatic relations and the ongoing conflict in the South China Sea. So far, the Philippine government has not yet made an official statement regarding the incident.
