Manila, Philippines – After the military uncovered China-sponsored espionage activities employing three Filipino civilian defense personnel, the Philippine Navy said there are “no indications” that Beijing will use the intel to occupy Ayungin Shoal or take over BRP Sierra Madre – the World War II-era ship grounded as a military outpost there.
Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea (WPS), said the three Filipino civilians who worked for the Department of National Defense (DND), Philippine Navy, and the Philippine Coast Guard, are now “under AFP control” following confessions they leaked “classified” information related to military operations in the WPS.
Trinidad said the three had a Chinese handler who recruited them with up to six-figure salaries and were given call signs – one of them was alias “Danny.”
“What was mentioned by Danny… is that based on the information he gave, it resulted in the harassment of one of the Coast Guard ships in Sabina Shoal,” the navy official told a press briefing in Camp Aguinaldo on Tuesday, March 10.
“And the damage incurred made him remorseful nung nakita niya na malaki ang tama ng barko na ito sa Sabina Shoal. He thought that pupwedeng may masaktan o may mamatay na kaibigan niya na Coast Guard,” Trinidad added.
Sabina Shoal is one of the flashpoints in the Spratly Islands. In 2024, the Philippine Coast Guard deployed its biggest vessel BRP Teresa Magbanua for five months to monitor China’s reclamation activities there and assert the country’s claim in the contested feature.
The BRP Sierra Madre (LT-57) meanwhile is a World War II-era landing ship in which Philippine troops have been garrisoned since 1999 when it was marooned at Ayungin Shoal as a Philippine Navy outpost. Last year, a Chinese tugboat was spotted in the shoal, raising speculation that Beijing could tow the Sierra Madre by force – something that the Navy said would not be possible as the ship rests on corals. In 2024, a confrontation left a Filipino navy personnel injured after losing a finger as China’s coast guard interfered with a humanitarian resupply and rotation mission to the grounded ship.
In the past three years, and coinciding with those confrontations between the two nations’ forces, the suspects had been leaking operational data for the WPS, as well as the Philippine Navy’s plans for modernization and strategic basing.
“These are classified considering the positions of the concerned personnel at the lower level of the plantilla hierarchy, their access to information is limited to those only classified. We have classifications for our information classified, confidential, secret and top secret. Their access level was to classified information,” Trinidad explained.
But whether China will use that classified information to occupy Ayungin Shoal – which would warrant displacing the troops on board the BRP Sierra Madre – Trinidad said: “No indications.”
The military has upped the ante in its internal threat defense, checking infiltration among its ranks.
“Totoo ang ganitong threat na hinaharap natin. Hindi ito kwento kwento, hindi ito gawa gawa. These are real persons. They have real confessions. They are now under the control of the AFP,” Trinidad said.
