Philippines alarmed over China arrest of alleged Filipino spies

MANILA – The Philippines expressed alarm on April 5 over the arrest of three Filipinos in China on suspicion of espionage, saying they were ordinary citizens and the arrests could be retaliation for Manila’s crackdown on alleged Chinese spies.

The Chinese authorities arrested the Filipinos and accused them of working for the Philippine intelligence agency to gather classified information on its military, the state-run China Daily reported earlier this week, citing state security officials. It said the three had confessed to the crime.

The Philippines’ National Security Council disputed Beijing’s accusations, saying the three were former recipients of a government scholarship programme created under an agreement between the southern Chinese province of Hainan and the western Philippine province of Palawan.

“They are ordinary Filipino citizens with no military training who merely went to China at the invitation of the Chinese government to study,” National Security Council spokesman Jonathan Malaya said in a statement.

“They are law-abiding citizens with no criminal records and were vetted and screened by the Chinese government prior to their arrival there,” he added.

Mr Malaya said the supposed confessions appear to have been “scripted” and urged Beijing to respect the rights of the three Filipinos.

A report by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on April 3 included what appeared to be a recorded confession by a Philippine national it said had been identified as one of the suspected spies.

The CCTV report said the man had lived in China for a long time and had been found spying near military facilities.

However, Mr Malaya said the supposed confessions “appear to be scripted, strongly suggesting that they were not made freely”.

He urged Beijing to “respect their rights and afford them every opportunity to clear their names, in the same way that the rights of Chinese nationals